THE NEW YORK TIMES: At least 18 people were killed in Kyiv, the local authorities said. Ukraine’s president had warned that Moscow was preparing a “massive strike” as Ukrainian forces have hit deeper into Russian territory.
The Russian military blasted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with waves of ballistic missiles and drones that lasted into Thursday morning, a deadly show of force after weeks of Ukrainian attacks within Russia that have heaped pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin.
At least 18 people were killed and more than 30 injured in the attacks, Ukrainian officials said, as firefighters raced to extinguish blazes in several districts of the capital. Several apartment buildings were partially destroyed and an unknown number of people were trapped in the rubble, according to the local authorities.
The Russian barrage was the latest in the deadliest spring for Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, as Ukrainian strikes prompt Mr. Putin to respond militarily. Ukraine has been bringing the war home to Russia by using long-range drones and cruise missiles to attack fuel facilities and military installations deep inside Russia and in occupied Crimea.
These attacks have caused widespread fuel shortages and have eroded Mr. Putin’s ability to insulate large parts of his country, including Moscow, the capital, from the war.
Ukraine’s strategy on the battlefield rests on forcing the Russian military to pay a heavy price for every mile of land it seizes while raising the economic costs for the Kremlin. Moscow believes it can outlast Kyiv’s outnumbered forces on the front while inflicting such a heavy human and economic toll that it breaks the will of civilians, according to Western military analysts.
In a statement on Thursday, Russia’s defense ministry called the strikes on Kyiv a response to Ukraine’s recent attacks inside Russia.
Many Kyiv residents had been bracing for a large-scale Russian assault in part because about two weeks had passed since the last one, giving Moscow time to stockpile missiles and drones. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had warned in recent days that Russia was preparing another “massive strike,” and he urged people to be “especially careful.” Live Updates » | Cassandra Vinograd | Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine | Thursday, July 2, 2026
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« La pire attaque depuis le début de la guerre en Ukraine » : ce que l’on sait des frappes russes sur Kiev, qui ont fait au moins 17 morts : Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky avait indiqué mercredi après-midi depuis Dublin rentrer immédiatement à Kiev, disant craindre une attaque « de grande envergure » de la Russie. »
