Russia strikes Kyiv with missiles and drones, injuring at least eight

Russian missiles and drones slammed Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight, injuring at least eight people and punching holes through apartment buildings in two districts of the capital. In Podilskyi, part of a residential building was partially destroyed between the seventh and ninth floors, and images from the scene showed a section of the facade caved in. The attack came only hours after Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing another large-scale strike.

The city administration said at least five people were hurt in Kyiv and at least three more were hospitalized in Bucha, just outside the capital. Two additional apartment buildings were struck, one in Podilskyi and another in Darnytskyi, while damage also spread to garages, a warehouse and other nonresidential structures elsewhere in the city. Residents rushed into underground metro stations as several waves of explosions echoed through the night, and the Ukrainian Air Force warned that dozens of missiles were in the air. Power outages were also reported in suburbs west of Kyiv, adding to the disruption of daily life and emergency response.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described a city still under continuous pressure, and the attack again sent a security ripple beyond Ukraine’s borders. Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect its own airspace, a reminder that Russian barrages on Kyiv now routinely trigger regional air-policing responses as well as local damage control. The pattern is familiar: residential high-rises take the hit, civilians are trapped or forced into shelters, and emergency crews race to buildings that can be damaged from the outside or by falling debris.

The strike followed a major Russian assault on Kyiv on July 2 that was initially described as one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the full-scale invasion began, with casualty figures rising over time as rescuers worked through damaged buildings. That earlier barrage also prompted warnings from Zelensky about another large-scale attack and again forced Poland to scramble jets. The repeated strikes underline how quickly Russia can mass missiles and drones against the capital, and how much strain that places on Ukraine’s air defenses, apartment blocks and the routines of ordinary life in Kyiv.