Key facts
- Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least 17 people.
- The attack involved over 70 missiles and nearly 500 drones.
- Moscow stated the assault was retaliation for Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had advance warning and returned from Ireland.
- Ukraine launched over 330 drones targeting Moscow and Leningrad regions in response.
Russia pummeled the Ukrainian capital in one of its largest drone-and-missile assaults this year, killing at least 17 people. The July 2 attack came amid weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes that have targeted Russian oil refineries, a campaign that caused fuel shortages nationwide. Russia's military said the assault was in response to "terrorist attacks" against Russian "civilian infrastructure." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow intended to increase pressure on Kyiv to achieve its war aims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote that Russia launched more than 70 missiles of various types against Ukraine overnight, nearly half of them ballistic missiles, along with almost 500 attack drones. Firefighters doused blazes in multiple locations as rescuers dug through rubble looking for survivors. Kyiv authorities confirmed at least 17 people were dead, with the death toll expected to climb. Scores of others were injured in the attacks. Fires and extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were reported across several districts of the city. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called the attacks "grave war crimes." On the eve of the attack, Zelenskyy suggested he had received intelligence that Moscow was planning the assault, prompting him to immediately return to Kyiv from Ireland. For its part, Ukraine continued its widening drone campaign overnight, launching more than 330 drones at targets in the Moscow and Leningrad regions.