In an intense overnight offensive, Russia unleashed a barrage of weapons on Kyiv, targeting the Ukrainian capital with a multitude of drones and missiles. This assault devastated residential areas, resulting in at least 18 fatalities and injuring more than 90 individuals, as reported by Reuters.
Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s envoy to the UN, conveyed the gravity of the situation to News Media, revealing that the attack represented “the most terrifying night for Kyiv since the onset of Russia’s comprehensive invasion.”
“This morning, I was on the phone with my mother-in-law, who is currently in Kyiv. She confessed that she had never experienced such fear. It was as though a biblical Apocalypse was unfolding before her eyes, with everyone around her in prayer.”
Emergency crews responded to the damage inflicted on an apartment building during the missile and drone assault by Russia in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 2, 2026. (Reuters)
The central areas of Kyiv were rocked by explosions for several hours, prompting thousands of people to seek refuge in bomb shelters and subway stations. This incident marked the most extensive destruction in Kyiv throughout 2026 and was the deadliest attack on the capital since May, when an attack claimed 24 lives after an apartment block collapsed.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, according to Reuters.
Yuri Ihnat, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, said the number of ballistic missiles was unusually high and that the interception rate for them was low, as Ukraine continues to face shortages of Patriot missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who cut short a visit to Ireland and returned to Ukraine, said damage had been reported at more than 20 sites across the capital.
“The main strike was directed at Kyiv,” Zelenskyy said. “Air defence supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority.”
An explosion lights up the sky over the city during a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 2, 2026. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday a day of mourning and said damage had been recorded across the city of roughly 3 million people.
Melnyk told News Media the attack should force the international community to confront Russia’s status inside the U.N. Security Council.
“And yet, this barbaric Russia continues to be treated at the U.N. as a normal member state,” he said. “It is time to end this parallel reality. Russia’s status as a permanent member of the Security Council should finally be called into question. Russia should be treated for what it has become: a pariah state.”
Emergency crews searched through the rubble of a nine-story building on the left bank of the Dnipro River as fires continued to burn after sunrise. City officials said some people remained trapped inside damaged residential buildings.
East2West footage showed the overnight barrage from inside Kyiv, including a baby sleeping as explosions flashed outside an open window and smoke from an earlier strike rose nearby. Other footage showed residents sheltering near a metro station as strikes hit the capital, as well as heavy damage across Kyiv, including residential buildings torn apart and thick smoke hanging over parts of the city.
More than 20 sites were damaged, including residential buildings, diplomatic accommodation and the National Institute of Biochemistry, where a state-of-the-art laboratory and offices were gutted.
Rescuers conduct search and rescue operations at a multi-storey residential building damaged in a massive Russian missile and drone attack in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 2, 2026. (Kyrylo Chubotin/Ukrinform)
Katarina Mathernova, the European Union’s ambassador to Ukraine, said Russia “unleashed hell on Kyiv” overnight and struck accommodation used by diplomatic personnel. Diplomats were not injured, but their belongings were damaged in a fire that engulfed the building, she said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post that its “massive attack” used long-range, high-precision weapons and drones to strike military and energy facilities, as well as airports in Kyiv and other locations. Moscow said the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia.
Ukraine said it hit an oil refinery overnight in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, where the regional governor reported one person killed in a strike on an industrial facility.
The Kremlin said Russian military commanders briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the attacks and said Moscow would continue increasing pressure on Ukraine to achieve its war aims.
Poland, a NATO and European Union member that borders Ukraine, briefly scrambled fighter jets as a preventive measure. Finland also briefly issued a temporary aviation restriction zone in the eastern Gulf of Finland, its defense forces said.
Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu told News Media that Russian drones were detected in Ukraine roughly 30 kilometers from Romania’s border Wednesday, prompting NATO air-policing aircraft to respond.
“Two Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft deployed under the Enhanced Air Policing mission and operating from the 86th Air Base in Fetești in Romania, were scrambled to monitor the Romanian airspace situation near the border with Ukraine,” Țoiu said. “A Romanian Air Force IAR 330 Puma helicopter was also deployed. Such incidents have constantly accompanied Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday that she would propose new sanctions on entities supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex in response to the strikes.
“The more Moscow attacks civilians, the more sanctions must be imposed,” Kallas said in a post on X.
A woman reacts near an apartment building damaged during a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 2, 2026. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters)
Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians in strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians but says attacks on what it calls civil infrastructure are legitimate because they affect Ukraine’s ability to wage war.