At least 10 people have been killed in a major attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv overnight into today, Thursday, July 2, 2026.
Kyiv officials said that Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones at Ukraine’s capital in an attack that lasted 11 hours, causing widespread destruction with damage reported at 30 locations.
According to Ukrainian authorities, dozens of people were wounded in the attacks, including at least one child and several medical workers who were hurt in a strike on an ambulance substation.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that its military launched a “massive strike using high-precision, long-range weapons,” including drones, targeting military and energy infrastructure in Kyiv and the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy, Chernihiv regions.
However, Ukraine alleged civilian infrastructure and residential buildings had been hit. Tymur Tkachenko, the Head of Kyiv’s military administration said, “There have been very significant direct hits on residential buildings, where, unfortunately, the bodies of the deceased are being recovered from under the rubble.” He noted that children were among the “significant number” of casualties.
The attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that intelligence data showed Russia was planning a “massive” strike.
Yesterday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cut short his visit to Dublin after he said fresh intelligence had emerged suggesting that Moscow was planning to strike Ukraine. “I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect themselves, their children, and, of course, their families,” he said.
He urged residents to heed air-raid sirens, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been “preparing a massive strike against Ukraine for some time.” “That is exactly the threat we are facing tonight,” Zelensky said in a post to X.
Residents packed into metro stations yesterday evening, preparing for a long night of attacks. Sirens began sounding around 8 p.m. local time and continued well into the morning.
Ukraine’s US Ambassador, Olha Stefanishyna bemoaned the attacks in a post on X.
“Another horrific night for the residents of the city, who were forced to spend it in shelters. Fires and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of the city.”
Olha Stefanishyna
Poland has also activated fighter jets to protect its airspace, describing it as a “preventive” measure. There are no reports of attacks on Polish territory. “These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” Poland’s military wrote on X.
Poland is a member of NATO, a signatory to the military alliance’s Article 5 provision that states “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all.”
Ukraine Demands Strong International Response
Warning that the death toll would likely rise, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, “We demand strong international responses.” “Not only words of condemnation but concrete action to stop Russian terror,” he added.
More than four years on from Russia’s full scale invasion, Ukraine’s cities face near nightly attacks from Moscow’s drones and missiles. However, Kyiv’s forces have also found ways to strike back at its much larger neighbor.
Ukraine has launched an unprecedented drone campaign against Russia in the past month, targeting energy infrastructure in long-range drone attacks that Zelensky has framed as a key strategy to force Moscow to end the war .
On a single night last week, Russia reported intercepting 660 drones across 12 regions – suggesting one of the largest Ukrainian attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Those attacks have penetrated deeper into Russia, bringing the realities of war to cities much further from the frontlines.
However, Moscow’s damaging air assaults on Ukraine also keep coming. Earlier in June, a Russian attack in the heart of Kyiv set fire to a prominent Ukrainian monastery complex, the UNESCO-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders say they have recaptured more territory this year than they have lost, disrupting Moscow’s crucial supply lines between the Russian border and occupied Crimea. Russia controls approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, mostly seized in the first few months of its full-scale invasion in February, 2022.
