Major Russian attack on Kiev kills more than a dozen people, says mayor
More than a dozen people were killed in a major attack on Kiev overnight on Wednesday and into the early hours of Thursday, the city's mayor said, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was planning a "massive" attack.
Kiev authorities said Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones against the Ukrainian capital in an offensive that lasted 11 hours, causing widespread destruction, with damage reported at 30 locations.
More than 85 people were injured in the attacks, including at least one child and several health professionals, hit in a bombing attack on an ambulance base, according to Kiev mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, who reported the deaths of 13 people.
"There were very significant direct impacts on residential buildings, where, unfortunately, the bodies of victims are being pulled from the rubble," said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city's military administration.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out a "massive strike with high-precision and long-range weapons", including drones, against military and energy infrastructure targets in Kiev and the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy and Chernihiv.
Ukraine, however, said the offensive hit civilian infrastructure and residential buildings.
"We demand strong international responses, not just words of condemnation, but concrete actions to stop Russian terrorism," declared Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, warning that the death toll is likely to rise.
Photos and videos show fires in partially destroyed buildings, many of them residential buildings, as rescue teams sift through large piles of rubble.
Long night in air raid shelters
The attacks were preceded by a request from Zelensky, on Wednesday, for residents to take extra care and obey air raid warnings. The president stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been "preparing a massive attack against Ukraine for some time."
Today, we have information about another massive Russian strike - we have relevant intelligence data. And immediately after this conversation, I am returning to Ukraine.
Today, I ask our people in Ukraine to be especially careful - stay safe and protect your families and... pic.twitter.com/cK7GDdYhJ4
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 1, 2026
"That's exactly the threat we face tonight," Zelensky wrote on the X network.
Residents packed subway stations on Wednesday night, preparing for a long night of bombings. The sirens began to sound around 8pm local time and continued until the morning.
More than four years after the start of Russia's large-scale invasion, Ukrainian cities face almost daily attacks from drones and missiles launched by Moscow. At the same time, Kiev also found ways to fight back against its much larger militarily neighbor.
Over the past month, Ukraine has intensified an unprecedented campaign of drone strikes against Russia, targeting energy infrastructure in long-range operations that Zelensky says are a central part of the strategy to pressure Moscow into ending the war.
On a single night last week, Russia reported intercepting 660 drones in 12 regions, indicating one of the largest Ukrainian attacks since the large-scale invasion began in 2022.
These offensives reached increasingly deeper areas of Russian territory, bringing the reality of war to cities far from the front line.
Still, Russian airstrikes against Ukraine continue.
In early June, Russian shelling in the center of Kiev caused a fire at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastic complex, a UNESCO world heritage site.
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Source: CNN