In brief
On the night of 2 July, Russian forces conducted a large‑scale drone and missile strike on Kyiv, unleashing the most extensive assault on the Ukrainian capital to date. The raid killed at least 30 civilians and wounded 91, with the mayor describing it as the "most massive" attack. Outrage swelled as missiles flattened high‑rise flats, destroyed a Red Cross warehouse, and damaged a highway ambulance station. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of targeting civilian infrastructure and criticised the accusation that the strikes were retaliatory. The bombardment, which lasted more than 11 hours, highlighted the growing intensity of Russia’s campaign in the region.
Russian forces launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight into Thursday, killing at least 30 people and injuring 91, in what the city’s mayor described as the "most massive attack" on the Ukrainian capital.
The assault involved a wide sweep of airspace, with 74 missiles and 496 drones fired over more than eleven hours. Major landmarks were hit, including a high‑rise block of flats on the city’s left bank that collapsed after two missiles struck nearby, as well as an ambulance station and a Kyiv Red Cross warehouse.
Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said an ambulance station was among the places struck and called the barrage the city’s “most massive”, while Kyiv’s military administration reported the wounds and deaths. The Red Cross confirmed its warehouse was destroyed, losing 320,000 relief items worth £1.3 m (79 m UAH) and hampering humanitarian operations across Ukraine.
The attack was part of a broader strategy by Moscow, which claimed it was targeting military bases in response to perceived terrorist attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure. Russian officials, including Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, vowed to increase pressure on Kyiv. Ukrainian officials rejected the justification, arguing that it demonstrates an aggressor versus a defender dynamic.
The raid has intensified concerns over the city’s air defences, with Ukrainian aviation experts noting the use of diverse weapons tightens the system’s threshold. President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to allies for more Patriot systems and urged the U.S. to grant Ukraine licences to produce own air‑defence missiles.
Explosions formed a crater next to bombed‑out buildings in Kyiv
