Yes, Russia Is Hitting Ukrainian Cities with Drones and Missiles — Here's What the Evidence Shows

This is not a disputed claim or a piece of propaganda — it is a verified, ongoing reality. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces have conducted repeated aerial strikes on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia. The weapons used include ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and Iranian-supplied Shahed loitering munitions, commonly called 'kamikaze drones.'

The evidence base is exceptionally strong. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented strikes causing civilian casualties and widespread infrastructure damage across the country. BBC News has tracked individual attacks in detail, including hits on residential buildings and energy facilities. Reuters reported that the January 2, 2024 attack involved over 100 projectiles targeting multiple cities simultaneously — one of the largest single aerial assaults of the war.

The humanitarian consequences have been severe and well-catalogued. Human Rights Watch documented Russian missile strikes on Odesa's UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2023, concluding they violated international humanitarian law. Amnesty International went further, determining that strikes on power stations, water facilities, and residential areas amount to war crimes. The Ukrainian Air Force publishes regular official counts of missiles and drones launched, intercepted, and those that hit their targets.

Russia has publicly framed the strikes as targeting Ukrainian 'military infrastructure.' International investigators examining the evidence on the ground have consistently found widespread civilian harm — destroyed apartment blocks, hospitals without power, and water systems knocked offline in winter. The gap between Russia's stated justification and documented reality is itself part of the public record.

This information circulates widely because it is true and carries enormous humanitarian and geopolitical weight. Readers should be alert to two opposite distortions: content that denies or minimizes the strikes entirely, and content that exaggerates specific details beyond what verified sources confirm. Stick to reporting from OCHA, established news agencies, and human rights organizations that publish their methodology.