Russians kill at least 31 Ukrainian in large-scale missile and drone strikes on Kyiv (updated)

Russian forces have launched a major drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing at least 30 people and injuring 86 others, local authorities say.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, mainly targeting the capital. While the country’s air defences were able to repel most of these, 25 ballistic missiles and 12 drones struck 33 locations.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed it targeted energy facilities in response to recent Ukrainian strikes.

According to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, more than 20 residential buildings were hit across Kyiv. Rescue workers continue to operate at 15 sites, including a high-rise apartment building and homes in south-east Kyiv.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, stated that objects affected by the Russian attack mostly consisted of residential areas and civilian infrastructure.

In the Darnytskyi District of Ukraine’s capital, Russian forces destroyed part of a nine-story building

“The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians,” he stated early on Thursday.

Aftermath of the Russian strike at the residential building In the Darnytskyi District of Kyiv

Update: As of 6:58 a.m. on 3 July, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that rescuers recovered three bodies from under the rubble of a destroyed section of a residential building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi District, bringing the death toll from the Russian attack to 30.

Ten people are still missing. Search and rescue operations are continuing at the site of a destroyed section of an apartment block.

Update: On 4 July, the State Emergency Service (SES) of Ukraine updated casualty data to 31 people killed and 102 injured.

Rescuers have completed search and rescue operations at the site of a residential building struck in the Darnytskyi District.

“Today  [on 4 July, 2026], during operations on the 12th and 13th floors, approximately 42 cubic meters of construction debris were cleared. Using an XCMG QY75K truck crane brought in from the Rivne Oblast’s State Emergency Service branch, 24 reinforced concrete slab fragments weighing a total of about 53 tons were removed from these same floors,” the statement of the SES reads.

The BookChef publishing house stated that it lost approximately 800,000 books in Russian strikes that destroyed the central warehouse of its logistics partner, Denka Logistics, where the publisher’s inventory was stored. No employees were injured.

“These are books that authors, translators, editors, illustrators, designers, printers, managers and logisticians worked on. This represents years of work by a massive number of people,” the statement reads.

Russians also damaged the office of the human rights organisation La Strada-Ukraine and the Wings of Victory volunteer centre. Both organisations reported that their teams were unharmed, but their premises require repairs.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has called on Ukraine’s partners to send more air defence systems, saying the country needed “not only words of condemnation but concrete action to stop Russian terror”. He posted on X that Russia had targeted residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, and called on partners to increase sanctions on Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at the scene of a Russian strike in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi District, has said Ukraine lacks enough missiles for its air defence systems to repel large-scale Russian attacks.

“If our partners had delivered what they promised on time, I think we could have saved more homes, to be frank, and more lives,” cites Ukrainian president Ukrainian daily news programme TSN as saying. 

Zelenskyy highlighted that Ukraine would need at least 140 Patriot missiles to intercept around 70 ballistic missiles. He also stressed that Ukraine is not asking for more than what has already been agreed and is simply expecting its partners to fulfil their commitments on arms deliveries.

“We are fighting on our own. The victims are exclusively Ukrainians. All we need from our partners is for them to do what they agreed to do. We are not even asking for more,” Zelenskyy noted.

Recovered body from the rubble of a residential building hit by a Russian missile in the Darnytskyi District of Kyiv

 Zelenskyy expects a positive response from U.S. President Donald Trump on licenses for the production of Patriot missiles. In his evening address, he said that he believes strengthening air defence must become one of the key outcomes of the upcoming NATO summit and other international talks.

“If, of course, NATO still means anything to the Allies. Europe must have its own sufficient capability to defend itself against all types of threats, including this one – Russian ballistic missiles,” he said. 

Ukrainian President noted that talks with the U.S. administration on Patriot production licences have been ongoing for a long time. He also expressed gratitude to all countries that are helping Ukraine through the PURL programme, which allows the purchase of air defence missiles, including Patriot systems.

“However, to reliably protect lives, we need our own production. European production here in Ukraine, or jointly with our partners, would, of course, also support the US in operations whenever needed. We hope for a positive response from President Trump to protect lives,” the president said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has sent letters to nearly 40 partner countries asking for the urgent transfer of Patriot missiles from existing stockpiles this month. He also called for contributions to the PURL and JUMPSTART mechanisms.

At the same time, intercepting ballistic missiles remains a key challenge due to a shortage of Patriot missiles, the Defence Ministry stated. To supply Ukraine with anti-ballistic missiles, the Ministry of Defence awarded a record contract in April 2026, for the first time, for hundreds of PAC-2 missiles for the Patriot system, with Germany’s support. Deliveries are scheduled to begin over the coming years.

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.

Keep up with ZMINA on X, BlueSky, and LinkedIn – and help us improve by answering a few quick questions here about our English-language coverage.