Folks react as they have a look at the positioning of a Russian missile strike that hit a residential constructing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a whole lot of drones and dozens of missiles towards Kyiv and different Ukrainian cities in a single day, killing a minimum of 16 civilians and wounding greater than 100 others, authorities mentioned Tuesday.
The harm trapped some folks beneath the rubble of condominium buildings. Emergency crews digging by way of the wreckage pulled out the physique of a 3-year-old youngster and the our bodies of a mom and her 8-year-old son within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipro, officers mentioned.
The assault stretched from night time into day and the increase of explosions reverberated throughout cities.
Kyiv residents had been on edge for days after Russia warned {that a} huge aerial assault was coming and warned overseas diplomats to go away the Ukrainian capital. None appeared to heed the decision.
“A large-scale attack and an explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned in response to the assault, urging extra help from the U.S. and European international locations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up Moscow’s aerial marketing campaign towards Ukraine, with Russian forces not too long ago launching a strong hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for under the third time within the four-year conflict.
The Russian technique seeks to reap the benefits of Ukraine’s scarcity of U.S.-made Patriot air protection missiles, with worldwide shares depleted by the Iran conflict. That has left civilians particularly weak to the Russian ballistic missile barrages, at the same time as air defenses cease many of the assault drones.
Kyiv mom and daughter shelter in a shower tub
Not less than 64 folks have been wounded within the capital, emergency providers mentioned. Kyiv resident Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night time mendacity in a shower tub for defense along with her 3-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated throughout the town.
“Our window was broken, a cobblestone flew into the children’s room,” Salikova mentioned, although they weren’t damage. “Thank God we’re alive. Today we’re alive, today we’re lucky.”
Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones throughout Ukraine, in line with the nation’s air pressure, with the principle targets together with Kyiv, the central metropolis of Dnipro, and the japanese cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air protection forces destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Putin seeks to alter the narrative of the conflict
Putin is eager to generate some constructive information from the battle that started with Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor and hasn’t gone in line with plan.
Western officers and analysts say Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the entrance line, choking Russian provide strains in occupied areas of Ukraine and disrupting oil amenities deep inside Russia that present important income for Moscow. That has made the conflict, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” extra seen to Russians and elevated strain on Putin.
U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the edges made no progress on key variations and after the Gulf and Center East grabbed Washington’s consideration. Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump however Putin refused.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned in an announcement that the army launched a “massive” strike with long-range precision weapons on military-industrial amenities within the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytsk and Sumy areas.
Putin signaled that Russia will not let up its assaults. He mentioned Tuesday that Ukraine’s Might 22 drone assault on a school dormitory in Starobilsk within the Russia-controlled Luhansk area of Ukraine that killed 21 had given the conflict “a whole new dimension.”
Ukraine mentioned it hit a Russian drone pilot coaching middle in Starobilsk.
Firefighters work on the positioning of a burning constructing after a Russian missile assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Man thrown out of Kyiv condominium by blast
Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones have been recorded at a minimum of 38 areas throughout Ukraine, in line with regional authorities. Particles from destroyed drones fell on 15 areas, the air pressure mentioned.
Not less than 4 folks have been killed in Kyiv and 63 folks have been injured, together with three kids, Ukraine’s state emergency service mentioned. Residential buildings and different civilian infrastructure have been broken in eight Kyiv districts.
Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, have been wounded of their condominium in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district in the course of the assault.
“I went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” mentioned Dniprovska, dried blood streaked throughout her face and a bandage wrapped round her chin. “I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.”
“Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,” she mentioned.
In Kharkiv, a minimum of 14 folks have been wounded and residential properties, garages and automobiles have been broken. Folks have been additionally trapped beneath the rubble of a four-story condominium block.
