Russia hits Kyiv and Kharkiv as Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia

Kyiv,UPDATED: Jul 8, 2026 18:32 IST

Three people were killed across Ukraine in overnight Russian drone and missile attacks on Wednesday, including one person in Kyiv, where powerful explosions were heard for the second night in a row. At the same time, Ukraine said it had struck oil refineries and other facilities deep inside Russia, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Turkey to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit to discuss Moscow's four-year-old full-scale invasion.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles, in the overnight attack. It said 139 drones were shot down or jammed, while two anti-radar missiles did not reach their targets. But all five ballistic missiles and 20 drones hit targets at 15 locations, underlining the continuing pressure on Ukraine's air defences.

Several explosions were heard in Kyiv shortly after midnight, even before authorities could issue an air raid alert for civilians to take shelter. In Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes. In Kyiv, city administration head Tymur Tkachenko said one woman was killed and two others were injured. The State Emergency Service said the attack damaged several administrative buildings and warehouses, as well as a garage complex and several trams. In Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said a Russian guided bomb injured a man and a woman overnight.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had struck arms industry facilities in Kyiv, including a plant that made components for Flamingo cruise missiles and a site assembling mid- and long-range drones. The ministry also said Russian air defences downed 415 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday to early Wednesday.

In Russia, Saratov region Governor Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, injured several others and damaged unspecified industrial facilities. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range strikes reached the Saratov, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan regions, as well as the Voronezh region closer to the Ukrainian border. He said the attacks hit refineries in Saratov and Tatarstan, the latest energy facilities targeted by Ukraine. Russia's Gazprom said Ukrainian drones attacked the Krasnodarskaya compressor station serving the Blue Stream natural gas pipeline to Turkiye late Tuesday, but said supplies were not disrupted. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it another "dangerous" attack against "the critical international energy system" and said he hoped Turkiye and other countries would warn Kyiv against such action.

Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said Ukrainian drones damaged industrial facilities in the city and injured several people, though he did not identify the sites. Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar said Ukrainian drones damaged two oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, injuring two crew members, and that the crew of one ship had to be evacuated. He said there was no oil spill because the tankers, which were heading to the port of Rostov-on-Don, were empty. The overnight attacks left deaths and damage on both sides, with Kyiv and Kharkiv hit in Ukraine and energy and industrial facilities reported struck in several Russian regions.

With PTI Inputs

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