Thursday, July 2, 2026 - Russian missile and drone strikes tore open apartment buildings in Kyiv early on Thursday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a “massive attack”.
Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones
at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, during its more than four-year invasion,
which has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
AFP journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than
a dozen explosions and saw residents — some with children and pets — rushing to
shelter in metro stations.
In the morning, locals stood on the rubble of destroyed
apartment blocks, ripped open by the barrage, as smoke poured over the Kyiv
skyline.
Blasts started echoing out over the Ukrainian capital late
Wednesday, lasting into the early hours of Thursday as Russian missiles and
drones rained down on residential areas in the centre of the city.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 13 people had been
killed, with 86 wounded.
Kyiv urged its allies to send more air defence.
“Do not delay decisions on air defence for Ukraine! This is
our main request to our partners after Kyiv suffered a night of horror,”
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on social media.
Russia fired 496 drones and 74 missiles — including
hard-to-intercept ballistic projectiles — Ukraine’s air force said.
It said it shot down 48 of the missiles and 476 drones.
The attack came hours after Zelensky cut short a visit to
Dublin on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian
strike.
Locals packed into underground metro stations or hunkered in
basements and corridors to protect themselves from the barrage.
“It’s hard. My child is used to sleeping in complete silence
and darkness,” 32-year-old doctor Kateryna Kucheryava told AFP.
“I picked her up and carried her down. She woke up, and now
she’s not sleeping anymore. We’re trying to get her back to sleep, but she
keeps getting distracted. It’s bright here, dogs are barking, and other
children are around.”
Zelensky on Wednesday had urged citizens to take extra care
ahead of the imminent Russian attack.
“I urge our people to be especially careful, to protect
themselves, their children, and, of course, their families; to use shelters and
heed air raid alerts in Ukraine — this is very important,” he told a news
conference.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been preparing
this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now”.
Ukraine has also stepped up long-range drone attacks inside
Russia in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure and military targets.
Russian officials have reported repeated strikes in border
regions, while Moscow has said its air defences have intercepted hundreds of
drones from Ukraine in recent days.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Thursday it had
launched a “massive strike” on Kyiv in what it called retaliation for the
Ukrainian counter-attacks.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than two
million military casualties, with Moscow’s forces bearing the brunt of the
losses, according to a study published Wednesday by the US think tank Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
US efforts to broker an end to the conflict have so far
failed.
“Russia’s head is completely refusing to end the war,”
Zelensky said on Wednesday in a post on X.
“And although through all possible official and unofficial
channels — including through people close to him — we have conveyed that the
war can and must be ended, and that we in Ukraine are ready for meetings and
meaningful negotiations, he sees only further aggression against Ukraine and
against other neighbours and Europe as a whole,” he added.
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