Russia launched a new large-scale missile and drone offensive against Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday (27), hitting the capital, Kiev, and other cities across the country, according to Ukrainian authorities cited by the Brazilian news portal G1. Ukraine's Air Force said the attack involved two Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles, 258 drones and an undisclosed number of ballistic missiles. The Ukrainian military claimed it shot down nearly 90% of the drones, along with one Oniks missile and seven ballistic missiles. Brazilian outlet UOL also reported the offensive, describing it as a "massive attack" on nine Ukrainian cities.
In Kiev, debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell on two districts, damaging a school and shattering windows at a health facility, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko; two people were injured in the metropolitan area. In Odessa, the strategic Black Sea port, the bombing lasted nearly all night and hit infrastructure, an educational institution and a residential building, injuring three people. There were also strikes in Poltava, where seven localities lost electricity; in Kryvyi Rih, the Ukrainian president's hometown and a major steel and mining center, where three people were hurt; and in Zaporizhzhia, in the south, with three more injured, according to regional authorities cited by G1.
For Brazil, the offensive carries economic and diplomatic consequences. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the attacks hit ports, grain warehouses and energy facilities, targets that keep Black Sea food trade under pressure. Brazil, one of the world's largest agricultural producers, imports most of the fertilizer it uses, and Russia is among its main suppliers, which turns every escalation of the war into a risk for costs and prices on Brazilian farms. Diplomatically, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has kept a neutral stance and advocates a negotiated end to the war, a position tested by each new round of bombing.
On the Ukrainian side, President Volodymyr Zelensky said European countries adopted measures this week to reinforce the country's air defense and renewed his appeal for more military support. Ukraine faces a shortage of interceptors for the American-made Patriot system, considered essential to shoot down ballistic missiles. "Everything that strengthens the protection of our skies saves the lives of Ukrainians every day," Zelensky wrote on social media, adding that the country had received a new, though small, batch of interceptors. In Europe, a parallel debate is advancing: four European Union countries have again proposed using billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, according to the Brazilian portal Terra.
Competing versions and pressure in the east
Moscow offered a different account of the offensive. Russia's Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted facilities of Ukraine's military-industrial complex, metallurgical companies, oil refineries, logistics centers and port structures in Odessa used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. During the night, five drones entered the airspace of Moldova, a neighbor of Ukraine, according to the Moldovan government, an episode that renews fears of the war spilling beyond Ukrainian borders.
On the ground, Russian pressure remains concentrated in the east. Russia's chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said Moscow's troops are about four kilometers from the eastern outskirts of Sloviansk, a strategic city in the Donetsk region that President Vladimir Putin aims to control, G1 reported.