Russian missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s capital kills a minimum of 11

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched waves of missiles and drones focusing on Kyiv early Monday that killed a minimum of 11 individuals, authorities stated, hours after Ukraine’s president warned {that a} large-scale assault was imminent.

One other 60 individuals have been wounded, in response to native officers, as emergency staff combed by rubble in search of survivors at residential high-rise buildings in two places that suffered direct hits.

The brand new assault got here days after a Russian strike killed 31 individuals within the capital on Thursday, the deadliest for the capital this 12 months. Russia’s Protection Ministry stated the bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine’s current long-range strikes, which have induced extreme gas shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.

Greater than 4 years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine’s advances in drone know-how have given it an edge in current months, analysts and Western officers say. Strikes on provide routes behind the entrance line have stripped the Russian military of momentum on the battlefield, they are saying, slowing its advance and driving up the price.

However Russia is now exploiting a distinct type of momentum: gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, which stay closely reliant on the U.S. Patriot programs to intercept ballistic missiles it could actually hardly ever shoot down another means. The conflict within the Center East has strained the worldwide provide of Patriot interceptors, already produced in restricted numbers — a scarcity now most of all being felt in Ukraine.

Rescuers work the scene of a constructing broken by Russian missile assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026.

Efrem Lukatsky/AP

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Gaps in Ukraine’s air protection

Ukraine’s Air Drive stated Russia fired tons of of drones and dozens of missiles on the nation in a single day, focusing on primarily Kyiv and 29 ballistic missiles that have been launched struck their targets, underscoring how little Ukraine can do to cease them.

“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” Air Drive spokesman Yurii Ihnat stated on nationwide tv, commenting on final evening’s assault. “Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”

Forward of a NATO summit in Ankara, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on X that Ukrainian forces had carried out effectively in opposition to drones and cruise missiles however not in opposition to Russian ballistic missiles — a shortfall he blamed on inadequate interceptor provides. He urged U.S. and European companions to depart the summit with sturdy choices to bolster Ukraine’s air protection and defend civilian lives.

“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep “vanquishing” residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he stated in a press release following the assault.

Russia’s Protection Ministry stated the assault focused weapons factories in Kyiv, together with websites it stated produce drones, sea drones, armored autos and missiles, in addition to amenities that restore air protection programs and gas and vitality infrastructure within the metropolis and surrounding area. The claims couldn’t be independently verified.

Russia’s aerial assaults on Ukraine have repeatedly hit civilian areas. Greater than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed within the conflict, in response to the United Nations.

“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” stated Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s Metropolis Navy Administration, in a publish on Telegram.

A residential constructing within the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he stated. Within the Darnytsia district, a number of multistory buildings have been broken and folks have been believed to be trapped underneath the rubble.

Native residents stroll amid particles following a Russian missile assault in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026.

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Ukrainian assaults in Russia and Crimea

In the meantime, an vitality supplier in Russia-occupied Crimea reported a blackout throughout the peninsula as a result of “external impact.” The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, stated Ukrainian assaults lower energy provides to the town early Monday, nevertheless it was later restored utilizing backup tools.

Russia’s Yaroslavl area Gov. Mikhail Yavrayev stated two individuals have been wounded in a Ukrainian drone assault on the town of the identical title. He stated over 70 Ukrainian drones have been downed as they attacked the town. Yavrayev did not say if any amenities have been broken, however Astra on-line information outlet stated the assault focused an oil refinery within the metropolis, inflicting a hearth.

Russia’s Protection Ministry stated that air defenses downed 519 Ukrainian drones in a single day.