The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the latest massive terrorist attacks on Ukrainian cities by the Russian Federation on 24 and 25 May 2025.
On these days, Russia carried out one of the largest combined attacks since the beginning of its full-scale war of aggression.
On the night of 24 May, the Russian occupation forces attacked Ukraine using 264 air attack weapons, including 14 «Iskander-M»/KN-23 ballistic missiles and 250 «Shahed» attack drones.
The attack lasted all night and continued on 25 May with a massive missile strike involving Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers, which launched X-101 cruise missiles and «Kalibr» cruise missiles from the Black Sea.
On the night of 25 May, the enemy launched a combined attack on Ukraine using 367 air attack weapons, including 9 «Iskander-M»/KN-23 ballistic missiles, 55 X-101, «Kalibr» air- and sea-launched cruise missiles from Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic aircraft, 1 X-22 cruise missile from Tu-22M3 aircraft, 4 X-59/69 guided missiles from tactical aircraft, and 298 «Shahed»-type attack drones.
The strikes were particularly intense in Kyiv, but missile and drone strikes also hit Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv regions. Russia targeted residential areas, student dormitories, shopping centers, schools, hospitals and other objects of no military significance.
As a result of these terrorist attacks, dozens of civilians were killed and more than a hundred people were injured of varying severity.
These barbaric attacks constitute a direct violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Russian attacks once again demonstrate that the Russian Federation has no intention of stopping its war of aggression against Ukraine and its terror against civilians. It is particularly cynical that the attack took place against the backdrop of active peace efforts by Ukraine and international partners, and calls for a full and unconditional ceasefire. The Russian Federation demonstrates a complete disregard for international peace initiatives and continues to intensify terror instead of constructive dialogue.
We emphasize that Moscow understands only the language of force, economic pressure and isolation. Only decisive actions by the international community, increased sanctions pressure and the provision of necessary defense equipment to Ukraine can force the aggressor to stop terror.
We call on our partners to increase pressure on Russia and strengthen Ukraine, including by providing additional air defense capabilities, Patriot, IRIS-T, NASAMS and other systems, and ammunition for them.
We call for strengthening the sanctions regime against Russian military-industrial enterprises, the energy sector, all Russian banks and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and other sectors.
We insist on the inevitability of punishment for the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation for planning, organizing and committing crimes of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity on the territory of Ukraine and call on the international community to ensure that they are brought to justice.
Russia must be held fully accountable for its actions, which threaten not only Ukraine but also undermine global security and stability. Ukraine will continue to defend its territorial integrity, sovereignty and right to existence by all available means, within the framework of international law.