Strong explosions rock Kyiv hours after Zelensky warned of ‘massive’ Russian attack
A series of powerful explosions shook Kiev on Thursday, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that intelligence data showed Russia was planning a “major” attack.
Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones into Ukraine, damaging and setting fire to residential buildings and killing at least one person, Kiev officials said.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that at least 11 injured people were hospitalized after the attacks.
Rescuers rushed to a collapsed nine-story building with people trapped inside, Klitschko said.
He had previously said that medical workers were injured when an ambulance station was hit.
Photos and videos from the Reuters news agency showed fires burning in devastated buildings and rescue teams sifting through large piles of rubble and rubble.
Emergency services work at the site of an attack on a residential building during a night of Russian missile and drone attacks on July 2, 2026 in Kiev, Ukraine. -Thomas Peter/Reuters
The attacks were announced in advance on Wednesday, with Zelensky urging residents to be “especially careful” and heed air raid sirens, and warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been preparing a major attack against Ukraine for some time.”
“This is exactly the threat we face tonight,” Zelensky said in a post to X.
People take shelter in a subway station in Kiev, Ukraine, July 2, 2026. – Alina Smutko/Reuters
Some residents, preparing for a long night when the sirens started to sound around 20:00 in the evening local time, crowded into the metro stations for shelter.
Ukraine launched an unprecedented drone campaign against Russia last month, targeting energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes that Zelensky has framed as a key strategy to force Moscow to end the war.
In a single night last week, Russia reported that 660 UAVs were seized The attacks, spread across 12 regions, mark one of Ukraine’s biggest attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
A Russian attack on the heart of Kiev in early June Set fire to Ukraine’s leading monastery complexUNESCO-listed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Teele Rebane contributed reporting.
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