At least 40 Ukrainian civilians killed and 149 others injured in Russian strikes on 2 July

At least 40 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 149 others injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine on 2 July 2026, according to the National Police of Ukraine.

The aftermath of the Russian attack on the Darnytskyi District, Kyiv, on 2 July 2026. Photo: Facebook page of the President of Ukraine

During the night of 2 July, Russian forces launched a massive attack on Kyiv. The assault lasted for more than 11 hours and targeted the city’s Shevchenkivskyi, Holosiivskyi, Pecherskyi, Podilskyi, Sviatoshynskyi, Darnytskyi and Obolonskyi districts.

As of 3 July, 30 people had been confirmed dead and around 100 others injured. The Kyiv authorities declared a day of mourning for those killed.

Previously, Texty journalists pointed out that over more than four years of full-scale war, Russian missiles, drones and shells have struck various targets across all districts of Ukraine’s capital. However, strikes on residential areas have sharply increased since last year. As a result, the Russian military has hit more residential buildings in the capital since then than during the entire prior period of the war.

In the Donetsk Region (Oblast), four civilians were killed and 13 others injured on 2 July.

• Russian forces carried out four strikes on Sloviansk, killing two civilians and injuring two others.
• In Druzhkivka, three FPV drones struck the town, killing one person and injuring three residents.
• Russian forces dropped seven KAB-250 guided aerial bombs on Oleksandrivka, killing one civilian and injuring six others.
• In Sviatohorivka, an FPV drone struck a road, injuring one person.
• In Adamivka, one person was injured after Russian forces shelled a highway.

The aftermath of the Russian attack on the Sumy Oblast on 2 July 2026. Photo credit: National Police of Ukraine

In the Sumy Oblast, five people were killed, including a child:

• In the Romny “hromada”, a local government area that includes one or more nearby settlements, a Russian drone struck a residential building, killing four people: a 76-year-old man, two women aged 39 and 26, and a girl aged one year and eight months. Three men, aged 33, 35 and 62, were injured;
• In the Richkivska hromada, a Russian drone strike killed a 49-year-old woman and injured a 47-year-old man;
• In the Sumy hromada, a drone strike injured two men aged 51 and 64, an 18-year-old woman and a 23-year-old woman. A separate strike involving a KAB guided aerial bomb injured four women, five children and four men;
• In the Bilopillia hromada, Russians dropped explosives from a drone and injured two men aged 53 and 63;
• In the Vorozhba hromada, a drone struck near a car, injuring a 55-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman;
• In the Sadivska hromada, a drone strike injured two elderly men and two women.

Aftermath of the Russian attack in the Sumy Oblast. Photo credit: National Police of Ukraine

In the Kharkiv Oblast, three civilians. Russian forces attacked Kharkiv with a drone that struck a fuel pump at a petrol station in the city’s Kyivskyi District. The victims, a 37-year-old man, a 36-year-old woman and their seven-year-old daughter, were inside a car at the time of the strike. All three were hospitalised.

In the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russian forces struck the Bohynivka hromada in the Synelnykove District with guided aerial bombs. A seven-year-old girl was killed, and four members of her family, including an 11-year-old child, were injured. The wounded were hospitalised.

Ukraine’s National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine have opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers violations of the laws and customs of war.

ZMINA previously reported that Russian attacks on July 1 killed six civilians in the Donetsk, Kherson and Kharkiv Oblasts, while at least 111 others were injured in attacks across the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria will oppose the European Union’s proposed 21st sanctions package against Russia unless Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev and Lukoil co-founder Vagit Alekperov are excluded from the list, BNR News reported.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, actively supports Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. He has notably stated that dying in the war against Ukraine “washes away all sins.” Additionally, the Russian Orthodox Church is involved in the indoctrination of Ukrainian children in Russian-occupied territories.

Human rights organisations and Ukrainian authorities emphasise that structural economic pressure remains a key tool to halt such atrocities. They urge every nation and individual government worldwide to strictly enforce global sanctions, close existing regulatory loopholes, and completely sever remaining commercial and technological ties with the Russian Federation. Civil society groups stress that any continued cooperation by foreign businesses directly contributes to the resources Moscow uses to sustain its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

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