Russia has unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, injuring at least four people and causing widespread destruction across seven of the city’s ten districts, according to Ukrainian officials.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Russia launched a staggering 315 drones overnight, targeting multiple regions across Ukraine. The skies over Kyiv lit up as explosions echoed through the city, with smoke billowing from damaged buildings.
Further south in Odesa, two people were killed and 13 others injured when drone strikes hit residential areas and medical facilities, including a maternity ward.
“This was one of the largest strikes on Kyiv,” Zelensky said in a social media post. He condemned the continued assaults, stating, “For yet another night, instead of a ceasefire, there were massive strikes.”
In addition to Kyiv and Odesa, the Dnipro and Chernihiv regions were also targeted. Zelensky revealed that two of the missiles used in the attack were ballistic and believed to be of North Korean origin.
Ukraine retaliated with drone strikes of its own, temporarily shutting down several airports in Russia. These counterattacks follow a covert Ukrainian operation on June 1, dubbed “Operation Spider’s Web,” which struck deep inside Russian airbases. The Kremlin said its recent escalations were in response to these attacks.
Air raid sirens blared throughout Ukraine during the night, with alerts issued in Kyiv and the eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv, underscoring the continued volatility of the war.
