The Ukrainian capital came under a barrage of Russian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that claimed the lives of at least three people, injured dozens more, and caused extensive property damage and fires in the early morning hours, following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s warning that a “large-scale” attack was being prepared.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said yesterday from Dublin, where he was on a visit, that he would return to Kyiv immediately because he had received information about preparations for a newRussian invasion.

“We know that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has been preparing this massive strike against Ukraine for some time now,” he said, calling on Ukrainians to “redouble” their vigilance and “protect themselves” during a press conference in the Irish capital.

A Russian missile just struck the top floors of a residential building in Kyiv pic.twitter.com/hWLW4YKOjQ

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 2, 2026

“Overnight, the enemy launched a new massive attack against the Kyiv region using attack drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the military governor of Kyiv, via Telegram, noting that five sectors in the region were hit.

Agence France-Presse reporters reported hearing a series of explosions for hours.

Smoke rose following an explosion in the heart of the capital, where buildings were on fire, according to a reporter on the scene. Firefighters and ambulances arrived quickly. About fifteen minutes after the first one, a second explosion was heard, scattering debris.

In the streets, residents were heading to shelters, some carrying mattresses.

“Unfortunately, the death toll” from the attack “has risen to three,” while “another 25 people were injured,” said Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv military administration, shortly before 6:00 a.m. (local time and Greek time).

About an hour earlier, he reported that 28 locations in the city had been struck, “mainly apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that a strike caused damage to a building in the city center that houses an ambulance station. “Five medical personnel were injured” in the Shevchenkivskyi district, of whom “one, an ambulance crew member, is in critical condition,” he added.

Russian forces carried out a massive missile attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, overnight.

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Numerous residential buildings have been damaged, including multiple partial building collapses. pic.twitter.com/XZEDRwc4MF

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 2, 2026

“The roof of a tall apartment building is on fire” in another neighborhood, while people were trapped when a 9-story apartment building, according to Mayor Klitschko.

More than four years after the war broke out with the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine, the capital has frequently been the target of attacks—often deadly, sometimes on a large scale.

On June 2, a massive attack—involving 656 drones and 73 missiles, according to Ukrainian authorities—killed 23 people in Ukraine, 16 in Dnipro (central-eastern Ukraine) and 7 in Kyiv, while wounding another fifty.

The Ukrainian armed forces, for their part, have escalated their own raids into Russia and areas of the territory controlled by the Ukrainian military, primarily using unmanned aerial systems, while U.S.-mediated negotiations to end the armed conflict have effectively stalled.

On June 18, a massive Ukrainian attack injured 17 people and struck an oil refinery in Moscow.

The war has claimed more than two million casualties among the armed forces of both sides, including the dead, wounded, and missing, at least according to estimates by a U.S. think tank.

Another massive Russian attack on Kyiv. Another horrific night for the city’s residents, who were forced to spend it in shelters. Fires and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of the city. #PeaceThroughStrength pic.twitter.com/2QtPemnNi9

— Olga Stefanishyna (@StefanishynaO) July 2, 2026

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Russian armed forces have suffered the “most” casualties, with estimates ranging from “400,000 to 450,000 dead out of a total of 1.4 million casualties,” while the Ukrainian forces have suffered “125,000 casualties” and have recorded another “525,000 to 625,000 wounded.”

According to this source, the number of Russian casualties in Ukraine is four times the number of U.S. casualties in all armed conflicts in which the U.S. has been involved since World War II and 9pthan Russian casualties in all armed conflicts in which they have been involved during the same period.

Source: Protothema.gr