Kyiv observed a day of mourning after a large Russian missile and drone attack killed at least 30 people in the Ukrainian capital and injured more than 90, according to Ukrainian officials. Rescue operations continued, and the head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, warned that the casualty count could rise.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko called the July 2 bombardment the largest attack on the city by the enemy. Ukraine's air force spokesperson, Yuri Ihnat, said Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones across Ukraine during the assault. Moscow's Defence Ministry said it had targeted military and energy facilities and described the operation as retaliation for Ukrainian drone attacks in Russia.
The Ukrainian Red Cross reported that one of its humanitarian warehouses had been damaged. It said 320,000 relief items were destroyed, with consequences for emergency and humanitarian work across the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cut short a visit to Ireland and renewed his criticism of delays in promised air-defence deliveries from Ukraine's partners.
Fresh Russian strikes were reported overnight into Friday. Authorities said a drone hit a home in the Sumy region near the Russian border, killing two women, an older man and a girl younger than two. Ten people were reported injured in the overnight attacks, including seven wounded by a missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
International officials condemned the assault on Kyiv. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would propose sanctions against organisations supporting Russia's military-industrial sector. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also denounced the attacks on populated areas.
The violence extended beyond Ukrainian-controlled territory. Russia-appointed authorities in occupied Zaporizhzhia said a Ukrainian strike on a market killed five people. They reported three additional deaths in other incidents. Officials in Russia said two people were killed by Ukrainian strikes in the Belgorod and Bryansk border regions. Those claims came from authorities on the opposing side and were not independently verified in the initial report.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had hit Russian fighter aircraft and a military base in Russian-annexed Crimea. The competing claims illustrated the continuing reach of attacks far from the main ground front.
The mourning in Kyiv centred attention on the civilian cost of the July 2 barrage, described as the deadliest attack on the capital in 2026 to that point. It also intensified Ukraine's calls for additional air defence as diplomatic efforts led by the United States had yet to produce a halt in the wider war. Zelenskyy was expected at the following week’s NATO summit, where reports said allies would announce a new support package worth 70 billion euros, equivalent to about 80 billion dollars.
