In a devastating overnight assault, Russia launched a wave of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, killing at least 15 people and injuring 156, according to local officials on Tuesday. The most severe damage occurred in Kyiv, where a nine-story apartment building was leveled in what has become the capital’s deadliest attack of the year.
The attack unfolded over nearly nine hours, with explosions echoing throughout Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Fourteen of the confirmed fatalities occurred in Kyiv, where the relentless barrage destroyed dozens of residential units. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, described the event as one of the most harrowing episodes the capital has endured since the start of the full-scale war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking from the G7 summit in Canada, condemned the attack as “one of the most terrifying strikes” on Kyiv since the invasion began. He reported that Russia launched more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in the overnight assault, describing it as one of the largest-scale aerial attacks of the war.
“Our families had a very difficult night,” Zelenskyy stated. “It was one of the biggest attacks from the very beginning of this war.”
According to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, at least 139 people were injured in Kyiv alone. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced that Wednesday would be marked as an official day of mourning to honor the victims.
Russia Intensifies Aerial Campaign
The overnight assault follows a growing pattern of Russian escalation in aerial attacks targeting civilian areas, despite Moscow’s claims that it only targets military infrastructure. United Nations figures estimate that more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the conflict so far.
This latest assault comes on the heels of another massive drone attack on June 10, when Russia launched nearly 500 drones in the largest single drone barrage of the war. On April 24, a separate Russian strike on Kyiv killed 12 people. The Kremlin’s strategy appears to include intensified long-range strikes in tandem with its summer offensive along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, particularly in the eastern and northeastern regions, where Ukrainian forces remain overstretched and under-resourced.
Amid this growing crisis, international diplomacy has struggled to gain traction. Two rounds of peace talks have failed to produce tangible results, and doubts are mounting over the level of continued U.S. support. President Donald Trump had been expected to meet with President Zelenskyy during the G7 summit, but returned early to Washington on Monday night due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rejected claims that Trump's resistance to new sanctions or security guarantees for Ukraine made a ceasefire unlikely. Meanwhile, the U.K. announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s defense sector and the so-called “shadow fleet” — a network of about 500 vessels used to circumvent sanctions on oil exports.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also revealed a new package of sanctions on Russia, targeting energy revenues and the shadow fleet, alongside an additional $2 billion CAD ($1.4 billion USD) in military aid to Ukraine, including drones, ammunition, and armored vehicles. He described the attack as “barbarism by Russia” and called for unwavering international solidarity with Ukraine.
Kyiv Residents Caught in Horror
The attack caused devastation throughout Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts. Dozens of apartment blocks were damaged, and at least 30 units were completely destroyed in a single residential complex after a direct hit from a ballistic missile, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
One of the victims was a U.S. citizen who died from shrapnel injuries.
Klymenko reported that 27 different locations in Kyiv were hit during the assault. More than 2,000 emergency workers, police, medical staff, and municipal employees are involved in the ongoing rescue and recovery operations.
Eyewitnesses described the horror. Olena Lapyshniak, 49, recounted the moment the missile struck her building: “I heard a whistling sound, then two explosions. The windows and doors blew out. It’s horrible, it’s scary. In one moment, there is no life. There is no military infrastructure here. Nothing. Just people. And they’re dying in the night.”
Fires broke out in multiple districts as falling debris from intercepted drones ignited residential buildings. Rescue workers had to delay operations due to the continuing attacks and the persistent threat of additional strikes.
Ukraine Pushes Back, Warns of Global Indifference
Ukraine’s armed forces continue to retaliate with domestically produced long-range drones. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it had intercepted 203 Ukrainian drones over 10 Russian regions overnight. Civil aviation was briefly suspended at airports in Moscow, Kaluga, Tambov, and Nizhny Novgorod due to the threat.
Meanwhile, Russian officials reported casualties from Ukrainian shelling in the Kursk region, where a 69-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman were killed in the village of Zvannoye.
In southern Ukraine, the port city of Odesa was also hit by Russian drone strikes overnight. One person was killed and 17 others injured, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.
Zelenskyy criticized the international community’s waning focus on the war. “Putin is doing this simply because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on. It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it,” he said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoed that sentiment, saying the attacks during the G7 summit demonstrated President Putin’s “total disrespect” for the international community. “Russia not only rejects a ceasefire or a leaders’ meeting to find solutions and end the war. It cynically strikes Ukraine’s capital while pretending to seek diplomatic solutions,” he wrote on social media.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that it remained unclear when — or if — another round of peace talks might take place.
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