Russian missile and drone barrage at night kills 18 across Ukraine

KYIV – Russia pummelled Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles early on June 2, killing at least 18 people and wounding over 100, after threatening a large-scale attack and warning foreign citizens to leave Kyiv.

The authorities in Kyiv had been sounding the alarm that Russia was preparing another massive barrage, the latest in a string of deadly strikes that have escalated the four-year war and dented hopes for peace.

AFP journalists in the capital heard air-raid sirens wailing over the city before a series of loud explosions that lasted throughout the night sent residents with bags and blankets rushing to shelter in crowded metro stations.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest Russian attack was a sign of Russian desperation – that President Vladimir Putin was bombing civilians since his forces were struggling on the battlefield.

“Putin is a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror. Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missiles can change this,” Sybiha said in a statement on social media.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest attack showed that Europe needed to develop its own air defence systems and that support from the US remained crucial.

“Europe needs its own anti-ballistic defence so that this war can finally be brought to an end. And assistance from the United States in supplying missiles for Patriot systems is absolutely necessary,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, meanwhile, said that “every delay” in supporting Ukraine’s air defence system “costs lives”.

Russia had launched 73 missiles and 656 drones, said the Ukrainian air force, adding that it had downed 602 of the drones and 40 of the missiles.

Moscow has bombarded Ukraine almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022, a war that is now the bloodiest on European soil since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced.

Russia said on June 2 that it had carried out a huge strike, including with hypersonic missiles, targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.

It denies that its forces target civilians.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people were killed and at least 65 others were wounded, including two children.

AFP journalists saw explosions and huge plumes of smoke billowing across Kyiv’s skyline at dawn, while rescue workers cleared debris beneath multi-storey residential buildings gutted in the attack.

Electricity in at least one part of the city was cut in the attack, AFP reporters said, while the operator of Ukraine’s electricity grid announced there were outages in six regions of the country.

In the industrial city of Dnipro further south, nine people were killed, including a child, when a four-storey apartment building collapsed, Zelensky said.

Several people were still unaccounted for, he added.

A maternity hospital with newborns and women in labour was also struck in the southern port city of Odesa, the authorities said, adding that there were no casualties.

Fifteen people, including a child, were also wounded in the eastern city of Kharkiv, which lies near the Russian border, the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

‘Protect your lives’

Moscow and Kyiv had agreed in May to a three-day ceasefire mediated by the US.

The truce was marred by allegations of violations on both sides, but had raised the prospect of a longer halt in fighting.

An uptick in strikes since has dulled peace prospects, particularly with the White House distracted by fighting with Iran.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person in Russia’s Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said.

Another drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the south-western city of Krasnodar, its operational headquarters said on Telegram.

Zelensky had said last week that Ukraine had learnt that Russia was preparing a new massive strike and urged people to heed the sirens, go to shelters and “protect your lives”.

Moscow’s warning to foreigners, including diplomats, had sparked an outcry, including at the United Nations.

Zelensky has reiterated his call to allies to allow and finance the supply of Patriot missiles, which can intercept Russian ballistic missiles.

He wrote to US President Donald Trump and the US Congress last week, asking for Patriot systems to respond to the intensifying Russian air attacks.

Ukraine has also stepped up its strikes on occupied territories and on Russia in retaliation for the daily Russian bombardments.

Russia launched a record 8,150 long-range drones at Ukraine in May, an AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force data showed, up 24 per cent from April.

Kyiv intercepted about 90 per cent of all incoming drones and missiles in May, according to air force data – but struggles to down ballistic missiles, some 33 of which were fired in the latest overnight barrage. AFP