As air raid sirens echoed across Ukraine, Russian forces hit multiple regions with strikes that authorities say left at least eight people dead and more than a dozen wounded just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned another large-scale overnight assault was likely.
A ballistic missile slammed into a house in a village near the central city of Kryvyi, killing four adults and two girls aged five and 12, local officials said.
The Kryvyi Rig defence council said eight other people were injured in the same attack and cautioned that “the death toll may rise”.
In the east, officials in Ukraine’s Poltava region reported that a drone strike on a warehouse killed one person, while authorities in the western city of Lviv said at least 15 people were wounded in separate attacks.
Kyiv’s city military administration said one person was killed and two others wounded in the capital after Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that Russia was “attacking the capital with ballistic weapons”.
“The threat of further attack remains present. Stay in shelters!” Mr Klitschko said early this morning, adding that fires had broken out in several districts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the US for talks with US President Donald Trump (image: Zelensky social media account/handout)
Separately, five more people were reported wounded in attacks in an eastern district of Kyiv.
Mr Zelensky, writing on X late last night, said Russia had been preparing what he described as a large assault for days.
“The Russians prepared a massive attack several days ago, and there is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight,” he wrote.
“Please, in all regions of Ukraine, pay attention to air raid alerts today and stay safe,” he added.
In the same post, Mr Zelensky again urged Ukraine’s partners to provide missiles that its air-defence network is lacking.
He said he spoke on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump at the White House, where they discussed the prospect of Ukraine producing Patriot interceptors.
Increasing attacks
An AFP journalist in Kyiv said air raid sirens were followed by several explosions.
Images released today by the city’s emergency service showed firefighters directing hoses at damaged buildings and combing through debris.
A house damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv (file image)
The United Nations has said last month was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since April 2022, as Russia intensified long-range strikes on towns and cities around the country.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has stepped up retaliatory attacks on Russia in recent months, partly in an effort to push Moscow toward negotiations after nearly four-and-a-half years of war.
In early July, Mr Trump said he intended to allow Ukraine to produce surface-to-air missiles, at a time when Russia was increasing ballistic missile strikes.
Only US-made Patriot systems can intercept those missiles, but Ukraine is running short of PAC-3 interceptor missiles.
That shortage has deepened since the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February.
Mr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had a “good meeting” with Mr Trump and that the US president “accepted that he will give us (Patriot) licenses”.
