Explosions Rock Ukraine’s Capital

Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had warned hours earlier that Russia was preparing another “massive strike” on Kyiv.

Rescuers on Thursday at an apartment building in Kyiv that was damaged in overnight Russian strikes.Credit...Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

By Cassandra Vinograd

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

July 1, 2026

Updated 10:42 p.m. ET 

Explosions boomed and thick gray smoke rose over the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday as Russia hammered the city with waves of ballistic missiles and drones.

Firefighters raced to extinguish blazes in several districts of the capital, Kyiv. Several apartment buildings were partially destroyed and an unknown number of people were trapped in the rubble, according to the local authorities. Emergency workers rushed to respond even as more explosions were heard.

The local authorities said that at least two people had been killed and 20 others wounded in the assault, which began Wednesday night and was still loudly underway as dawn began to break on Thursday morning. Birds could be heard chirping in between booms.

Russian attack drones came first. The rat-tat-tat of air defenses firing was followed by one large explosion around 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, then more. A large fire was soon seen burning in the city center, with a smaller blaze just beyond it.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv implored people to stay in shelters as the night wore on and ballistic missiles entered Ukraine’s airspace. Another series of powerful explosions started to rock the city just before 2 a.m. Thursday, setting off car alarms that soon mingled with sirens.

Rescuers on Thursday at an apartment building in Kyiv that was damaged in overnight Russian strikes.Credit...Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Images of burning apartment buildings and cars ablaze started to emerge on Ukrainian Telegram channels. A market, a hotel and an ambulance station also sustained damage, according to local officials, who warned that more missiles were on their way.

Many residents of the capital had decided to spend the night in subway stations with sleeping bags and pets, hunkering down amid warnings that a large-scale attack was imminent.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had urged people before the attack began to heed air-raid alarms and be “especially careful,” saying on Wednesday evening that intelligence had indicated that Russia was preparing another “massive strike.”

Many in Kyiv had been bracing for a large-scale assault. Ukraine has been heaping pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by launching long-range drone attacks on Moscow, disrupting Russian fuel supplies and pounding Crimea — the peninsula Russia illegally annexed in 2014 — with drones and missiles.

Ukraine says the goal is to take the war to Russia and to get Mr. Putin to agree to end the conflict. But Mr. Putin, even as his ability to isolate Russian society from the war’s effect has diminished, has expressed defiance and dug in.

“Putin wants to keep fighting,” Mr. Zelensky said Wednesday in Ireland, where he was attending a European Council event, before rushing home. “That is why he must face conditions that make it impossible for him to keep this war going.”

The air-raid sirens wailed in Kyiv just a few hours later, the start of a long and loud night for the city’s residents.

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 Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

 

---Childbearing in Ukraine: Bombings, blackouts and displacement compound maternal anxiety. Still, many women persevere. “We must bring new life,” one said.

 ---A Prom in Kyiv: Masha Polska, 15, was an avid dancer who had been dreaming of a star turn in the group waltz. That was not to be. 

 ---Don’t Talk About the War in Russia: As Ukraine brings the war home to Russia, officials hesitate to designate shelters and blast sirens, downplaying the conflict’s consequences with euphemisms.

 ---Zelensky’s Threats Against Belarus: Ukrainian officials say their northern neighbor is allowing its radio relay stations to be used to guide Russian attack drones more precisely. President Volodymyr Zelensky has taken a confrontational approach. 

 ---War Amputees Embracing New Lives: As the number of amputees in Ukraine soars, many are bonding by learning new sports, challenging both their bodies and their ideas of what they can do.