Russia launches massive strike on Ukraine as Poland scrambles jets, Finland restricts airspace
Smoke rises over the city following a Russian air attack on Kyiv, on July 2, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian missile and drone strikes rocked Kyiv early on July 2, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a “massive attack”. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP via Getty Images)
Roman Pilipey | Afp | Getty Images
Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine Thursday, targeting Kyiv and other regions across the country.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that it carried out a “massive strike using long-range precision air, land, and sea-based weapons and attack drones.”
Moscow said the strikes targeted military-industrial facilities, fuel and energy complexes in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as military airfields in the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions.
“Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that there were 10 deaths and 34 injured.
It was not immediately clear how many missiles and drones were launched at Ukraine, or how many Ukraine had managed to intercept.
Finland had temporarily imposed an “aviation restriction zone” in the eastern Gulf of the country before lifting it.
Poland also scrambled fighter jets in response to the attack, saying on X that “fighter jets have begun operating, while ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance have reached a state of readiness.”
“These actions are of a preventive nature and are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” it added.
Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., said on X that residents spent the night in shelters. Kyiv was seeing fires and the destruction of residential buildings in several districts of the city, she said
CNBC has reached out to Russia’s defense ministry for comment.
Moscow’s strikes came after Ukraine said Tuesday that it had hit one of Russia’s largest satellite communications centers for a second time in just over a week, CNN reported.
Kyiv has stepped up long-range drone attacks inside Russia, targeting oil refineries, military facilities and major cities, including Moscow and St Petersburg.
“As envisaged by the Defense Strategy of Ukraine, we are depriving the enemy of resources for waging war,” the ministry said on Telegram on July 1, adding that the effort is intended to pressure Russia to end the war, now in its fourth year.
Source – Middle east monitor
