Air-raid sirens sent residents of Kyiv into shelters again overnight, as Russia mounted a large-scale missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital.
A night of explosions
The first blasts were reported over Kyiv late on July 1, triggering a citywide air-raid alert, with further waves striking in the early hours of July 2, France 24 reported. Ukrainian authorities said the assault combined cruise and ballistic missiles with waves of attack drones, one of the heavier bombardments of the capital in recent weeks. Fires broke out in several districts, including in the city's central Shevchenkivskyi district, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Casualties and damage
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least five people were injured in Kyiv, and officials cautioned the toll could rise as rescuers worked through debris. In the Shevchenkivskyi district, an ambulance station was struck and several paramedics were hurt, one of them seriously, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing city officials. In the northeastern Desnianskyi district, part of a nine-story residential building collapsed. Ukrainian emergency services said crews were dispatched across multiple neighborhoods to put out fires and search damaged buildings.
Ukraine's air force said its air-defense units engaged the incoming missiles and drones through the night. As is common in these attacks, officials said a portion of the projectiles were intercepted while others got through — a pattern that has defined Russia's sustained aerial campaign against Ukrainian cities.
A warning, then the strike
President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned earlier on July 1, while traveling abroad, that Russia was preparing "a new mass strike," a warning borne out within hours. Ukrainian officials also reported deadly Russian strikes elsewhere in the country the same day; in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, local authorities said a teenager was among those killed and dozens were wounded. The Herald could not independently verify every casualty figure, which came from Ukrainian officials; Russia's Defense Ministry, which describes its strikes as aimed at military targets, had not commented on the Kyiv attack at the time of publication.
The wider war
The attack came amid an intensifying exchange of long-range strikes. In recent weeks Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on targets deep inside Russia, including oil-refining infrastructure, while Russia has continued mass barrages against Ukrainian cities. A major strike on Kyiv in mid-June killed several people and damaged buildings across the capital, and residents have endured repeated nights of alerts since.
For Kyiv, the overnight assault was another test of a population that has learned to live between the siren and the all-clear — and of an air-defense network that Western partners have raced to reinforce, but that cannot stop every missile. As dawn broke, crews were still clearing rubble and treating the wounded, including the medics whose own station had been hit.
