Kyiv woke to shattered apartment blocks and frantic rescue efforts after Russia again struck the Ukrainian capital with missiles and drones — the second such assault in a week and timed on the eve of a pivotal NATO summit, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed allies to deliver what he called “strong decisions” at the gathering.
“It is critically important that the world – first and foremost the United States and our European partners — come out of the NATO Summit in Ankara with strong decisions in support of our air defence,” Mr Zelensky said on Facebook.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency crews were hauling residents from buildings ripped apart by the overnight barrage.
Officials reported at least 18 people killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, with about 60 wounded.
Russia launched 68 missiles and 351 attack drones, Mr Zelensky said.
In the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve, officials said residents were evacuated amid fears unexploded munitions could be buried in the debris.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine “urgently” needs additional air defence systems and said the issue would be on the agenda at the NATO summit.
Writing on X, she added: “We will keep increasing the pressure until Russia ends the bloodshed”.
Last night, the Russian regime once again blindly attacked civilians from the air, with over 400 drones and missiles attacking the capital.
Ukraine urgently needs more air defence. We will discuss it this week in Ankara at the @NATO Summit.
Last week we provided the first €4…
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 6, 2026
Monday’s strike followed another Russian attack in the early hours of Thursday that killed 31 people — the deadliest blow to the capital this year.
Emergency services said at least 15 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed in the latest attack, including a nine-storey block in the historic Podilskyi district that was largely blasted away from the fifth level upward.
Authorities said four residential buildings were hit in Podilskyi alone. The General Prosecutor’s office said Podilskyi and the eastern Darnytskyi district were at the epicenter of the strikes.
A young child is rescued from an upper storey apartment
Two other city districts also recorded damage, officials said.
Russia carried out a “massive” strike on Ukraine’s capital and other locations using long-range, high-precision air-, land-, and sea-launched weapons as well as drones, the Russian defence ministry said.
The ministry said the attacks hit military and energy facilities in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, along with military airfields in several other Ukrainian regions.
Local officials said one person was killed and another 15 injured in the surrounding Kyiv region. In the southern Black Sea port of Odesa, which also came under attack, at least one person was injured.
US President Donald Trump and Mr Zelensky are expected to discuss the war on the sidelines of the NATO summit, which begins tomorrow.
Mr Trump plans to speak afterwards with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the United States tries to restart peace efforts that have largely stalled.
Rescuers work at a residential building in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district after a Russian missile strike
On the ground in Kyiv, reporters heard more than 10 explosions during a ballistic missile alert. About 30 minutes later, flashes lit the sky as another wave of blasts followed.
Smoke rises after a Russian missile strike in Kyiv
In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up strikes on energy facilities inside Russia as it seeks to erode the Kremlin’s ability to sustain the war.
It has also hit Moscow-controlled territory in Ukraine that predates the current invasion.
A police officer inspects the remnants of a missile after a Russian strike
In Russian-annexed Crimea, governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said a Ukrainian strike near Sevastopol briefly cut electricity supplies.
“Following an enemy attack on energy infrastructure near Sevastopol, our city was temporarily left without electricity,” Mr Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram.
Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the state-backed Max platform that Russian air defences shot down several waves of drones headed for the Russian capital.
Diplomacy and fighting
The White House said Mr Trump would meet Mr Zelensky on Wednesday during the NATO summit.
“The president’s obviously getting together with him to talk about how we can end the war. That’s been a priority of his for a long time,” a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A woman comforts a young boy in the aftermath of the strikes on Kyiv
The official said Mr Trump would then “follow up” with Mr Putin.
The planned meetings come as diplomatic pushes to end the war remain largely frozen.
Mr Zelensky said yesterday that Ukrainian forces were still fighting for the strategic eastern town of Kostyantynivka, a gateway to key positions in the Donetsk region.
Russia said on Friday it had captured the town, a claim Kyiv dismissed as “a lie”.
“Fighting is also continuing for Kostyantynivka, which (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to appear there,” Mr Zelensky said in a nightly address.
He warned that Moscow was preparing fresh large-scale attacks ahead of the NATO summit.
Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky both held separate phone calls with Mr Trump on Saturday to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.
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