Russia Launches Deadly Drone And Missile Attack On Kyiv And Other Cities
by RFE/RL · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · JoinA large-scale overnight Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv has killed at least four people and injured dozens, including children, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes came days after Moscow warned of further strikes on the capital, including against what it called Ukraine's "decision-making centers" and urged foreign citizens and diplomats to leave the city.
Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones overnight, with strikes recorded at 38 locations across Ukraine, primarily targeting Kyiv, the Ukrainian Air Force said on June 2.
According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, Russia's combined attack on Kyiv on June 2 killed at least four people and injured 58 others, including children.
'Terror Against Ukraine's Civilians'
Klitschko reported damage to residential buildings, a clinic, a gas station, vehicles, and other infrastructure across several parts of the capital, with numerous fires, building collapses, and power outages.
"Russia continues terror against Ukraine's civilians," Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote in a post on X.
"The world must act. These attacks must stop. Every day of delay costs lives."
Russian forces also attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and injuring at least 25 others, including children, according to local authorities.
"Twenty-three people were hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl. Doctors described her condition as moderate. Three of the injured are in serious condition," Governor Oleksandr Hanzha wrote in a Telegram post on June 2.
Hanzha also shared images showing extensive damage to a residential neighborhood following the strike.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks overnight on June 2 injured at least six people, including an 11-year-old girl, and caused fires and damage to homes, vehicles, and other buildings, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Russian Threats Against Kyiv
A day after Moscow pummeled the Kyiv region on May 24 with hundreds of drones and what Russian officials described as a new hypersonic missile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Moscow was planning to launch "systematic and consistent strikes" against Ukrainian military sites in Kyiv and "relevant decision-making centers."
Lavrov also advised that US citizens and diplomats should be evacuated from Kyiv.
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Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned the Russian warning as "shameless blackmail" intended to intimidate foreign diplomats and international organizations based in Kyiv.
"Russia wants fear. Panic. The isolation of Ukraine," Katarina Maternova, Ukraine's ambassador to the European Union, said in a post to Facebook. "It will not work."
Foreign diplomats also pushed back against the warning.
Russia has justified its increasing threats by citing an attack on a school dormitory in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk in May.
Local officials said more than 20 people were killed in the town of Starobilsk. Russian authorities accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting a civilian site.
Ukrainian military officials said their forces had struck the headquarters of a Russian drone unit and rejected allegations that civilian facilities had been targeted.
Russia Launches Deadly Drone And Missile Attack On Kyiv And Other Cities
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