Russia kills 21 in Kyiv with retaliatory drone and missile barrage

Kyiv,UPDATED: Jul 3, 2026 01:02 IST

Russia launched an 11-hour drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight into Thursday morning, killing at least 21 civilians and injuring more than 90, as Moscow said the bombardment was retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities. Loud explosions shook the capital, where more than 50,000 people took shelter in subway stations after air raid warnings were issued, while emergency crews searched through the rubble of damaged apartment buildings.

The attack came as the war continued to widen beyond the front line, with Ukraine pressing long-range strikes inside Russia and Moscow responding with large-scale aerial assaults. Ukrainian officials say they are trying to force President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, but Russia has answered by hitting back, even as diplomatic efforts, most recently by the Trump administration, have not produced results. President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to attend next week's NATO summit in Turkey.

According to Ukraine's Emergency Service, 21 people were killed in Kyiv. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described it as a "night of horror" in the capital. Flashes from exploding drones and missiles lit up the sky, while tracers from air defence fire streaked through the air and a large cloud of black smoke rose over the city. Authorities said more than 30 locations were damaged, including about 20 residential buildings. In the Desnianskyi district, residents were trapped inside a damaged nine-storey building, while in the Darnytskyi district, most of another nine-storey building collapsed.

Kyiv resident Serhii Budko said three or four ballistic missiles hit his district. "We were inside the shelter and felt the shelter shaking - the ceiling and floor, everything," the 24-year-old said. In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian strike killed a 7-year-old girl and wounded four other members of the same family, including an 11-year-old girl, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the attack used "high-precision long-range weapons" and drones to strike weapons factories and energy facilities in and around Kyiv, as well as "military airfield infrastructure" elsewhere in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the bombardment was "exclusively against military or military-linked targets". Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 74 missiles and 496 drones in the attack. Ukrainian air defences have improved during the war, especially against drones, but officials say ballistic missiles, which made up roughly a third of the missiles fired overnight, are harder to intercept. Sybiha said in April that Ukraine's weapons factories meet up to 75% of the military's needs, but he and other officials have continued to ask partner countries for more Patriot systems.

The strike followed a recent wave of Ukrainian attacks inside Russia, described by Zelenskyy as a "40-day blitz", with oil refineries among the main targets. Russia's Defence Ministry said the latest bombardment was in response to those attacks, which it said had caused severe fuel shortages and increased pressure on Putin. Analysts and Western officials say Ukraine's advances in drone engineering have given it an edge in recent months, allowing it to hit supply routes behind the front line, slow Russian battlefield progress and make its advances more costly. Supplies to Crimea have been a particular target, causing what the report described as the peninsula's worst fuel crisis since Russia illegally annexed it in 2014.

Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck one of Russia's largest oil refineries overnight in the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, starting a fire. It also said Ukrainian forces hit a railway bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, which was being used by Russian forces to move personnel, weapons and military supplies. Russia's aerial attacks have repeatedly hit civilian areas, and the United Nations says more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war. No reliable figures are available for battlefield casualties, though a report earlier this year by the Centre for Strategic and Studies estimated that up to 1.8 million soldiers on both sides have been killed, wounded or gone missing, with Russian troops making up most of that number.

The overnight attack on Kyiv underlined the intensifying cycle of strikes and retaliation, as Russia said it was responding to Ukrainian attacks on oil and transport infrastructure, while Ukraine pointed to fresh civilian casualties and widespread damage in the capital and other regions.

With PTI Inputs

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