Russia’s drone and missile attack kills 30 in Kyiv. Ukraine may have used a long-range ballistic missile in combat for first time, Bloomberg News said. Ukraine strikes an oil refinery in Russia’s Kstovo.
Russia’s drone and missile attack kills 25 in Kyiv
A major Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Thursday killed at least 30 people and injured 85 others in Kyiv. As of Thursday evening, search and rescue works were still underway.
Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed nine-story building in the Darnytskyi district, Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klychko said on Thursday morning. A 15-year-old girl and her family were among the missing.
At least three children were taken to hospital, Klychko also said. Among them are a brother and sister, ages one and five, and a 16-year-old girl. The one-year-old boy underwent surgery.
A heavily wounded 10-year-old boy also had surgery. At the time of writing, his parents were not found under the rubble. His grandfather was staying with him.
At least 30 sites across the city sustained damage in the attack. These are mostly apartment buildings and critical infrastructure facilities.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched 496 drones and 74 missiles toward Ukraine, including four 3M22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles launched from Russia’s Kursk region, 24 Iskander-M/S-400 missiles launched from the Bryansk and Kursk regions, 34 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers flying in the Vologda region, eight Kalibr cruise missiles launched from Novorossiysk, four Kh-59/69 air-launched cruise missiles launched from the Voronezh region. Russia also used 496 drones in the attack, including ones of the Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas type. It also used the Banderol loitering munitions and Parodiya decoy drones. The drones were launched from the regions of Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized four Iskander-M/S-400 missiles, all eight Kalibr missiles, 32 Kh-101 cruise missiles and all four Kh-59/69 air-launched cruise missiles. Twenty-five missiles and 12 drones hit target in 33 locations, and debris from missiles and drones fell in 18 other sites, the Air Force added. The main target for the attack was Kyiv.
A medical emergency station, scientific institute and a hotel, and industrial facilities were also damaged.
Five people, including a child, were wounded in the Kharkiv region as part of a larger attack. Two people were injured in Kyiv region. The regions of Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy were also under attack.
Reacting to the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a post to X on Thursday: “Air defense supplies for Ukraine are an absolute and critical priority. Contributions to the PURL program remain essential – they directly help save lives.”
“It is especially important that we move forward with implementing our agreements on the production of anti-ballistic capabilities. We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licenses for Patriots and other forms of cooperation,” he added.
Parts of the city experienced power cuts after some of the energy sites sustained damage in the attack. The DTEK private energy company said power was being restored.
Kyiv city authorities have declared a day of mourning on Friday, July 3. The city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klychko said the strike was the largest Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital so far.
Ukraine may have used a long-range ballistic missile in combat for first time, Bloomberg News said
Russia indicated that Ukraine may have used a long-range ballistic missile in combat for the first time, Bloomberg News said on Thursday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said air defenses shot down what it described as a “long-range operational-tactical missile” over the past 24 hours, alongside seven guided bombs and 602 fixed-wing drones.
It didn’t identify the weapon or offer any further detail. Ukraine hasn’t publicly confirmed any ballistic missile use.
The claim comes after Ukrainian defense company Fire Point said its FP-9 ballistic missile was nearing flight tests.
Chief Designer Denys Shtilerman said in June that the weapon could begin testing this summer or by early autumn after completion of engine work on the missile that Fire Point has said is designed for strikes deep into Russia with a range of about 850 kilometers (528 miles).
If confirmed, the firing would mark a new step in Kyiv’s effort to expand its domestically produced long-range strike capabilities beyond drones and cruise-type systems. The high speed and trajectory of a ballistic missile reduces warning time and complicates interception by air defenses.
In other news, Ukraine released a mock-up of the FP-9 ballistic missile at an exhibition in Rzeszów, Poland for the first time in April 2026. The missile is capable of carrying an 800-kilogram warhead and has a range of up to 850 kilometers, Ukrainian news site Defense Express said.
It has a length of around 9.5 meters and a maximum diameter of 1.1 meter. It exceeds Russia’s Iskander missiles in size. The latter has a length of 7.2 meters and a maximum diameter of 0.95 meters.
Fire Point is developing a Ukrainian air defense system, “a cheaper version of the U.S.-made Patriot system,” capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. Denys Shtilerman, Fire Point’s co-founder and chief designer, said on May 25 that if the tests are successful, the system could come into operation by the end of the year.
Last month, Shtilerman said that Ukraine will soon be able to strike Moscow with own FP-9 ballistic missiles.
“For the FP-9, a missile that has Moscow in reach, we have everything ready but an engine. We’ll test the engine this month and expect to begin test flights soon. As soon as a test flight shows that everything works well, we must start the next flight toward Moscow,” Shtilerman said in an interview with a Ukrainian site.
He said a strike against Moscow with a FP-9 missile could happen between summer and late autumn.
Ukraine strikes oil refinery in Russia’s Kstovo
Ukraine’s defense forces struck the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery in the city of Kstovo in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region overnight on Thursday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a post to social media.
The strike is part of an effort to “decrease Russia’s military and economic potential,” it said.
The strike hit the facility and ignited a fire there.
According to preliminary reports, the attack damaged the AVT-6 primary crude oil processing unit.
The exact damage from the attack is being assessed, the General Staff said.
The plant is one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries with a processing capacity of around 17 million tons per year. It produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and lubricants, and supplies the Russian army.
The Ukrainian military also struck a drone storage site near the village of Kamyanka in Zaporizhzhia region, the General Staff said.
Ukraine also hit a railroad bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river near Stanytsya Luhanska in Luhansk region. Russia is using it as a supply route for troops, weapons and materiel, the message reads.
Ukrainian troops also struck a Russian command-and-observation post near the village of Vilshana in Kharkiv region, the message reads.
