Overnight on July 6, Russia launched one of its heaviest combined strikes on Kyiv in months, combining ballistic and cruise missiles with attack drones. At least nine people were killed, with the Podilskyi district hit hardest.
Russia launched a massive combined strike on Kyiv overnight on July 6, 2026, just ahead of the NATO summit opening in Ankara. The attack combined ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and strike drones — according to initial reports, not a single ballistic missile was intercepted. At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured, with rescue operations still underway into the morning.
The Podilskyi district in the capital bore the brunt of the strike, where a missile tore through a residential building, destroying apartments on both sides. Rescuers pulled at least fifteen people from the rubble and upper floors, including women and six children. In the Holosiivskyi district, a five-storey building caught fire after being hit. City authorities declared a day of mourning.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said none of the ballistic missiles fired overnight were shot down, citing a shortage of interceptor missiles compatible with Patriot systems. Air defense crews neutralized most of the hundreds of aerial targets launched that night, but the ballistic missiles — the hardest to intercept — got through unopposed.
The strike came just a day or two before NATO leaders were due to gather in Ankara, Türkiye, where allied support for Ukraine is high on the agenda. Zelensky urged partners, above all the United States and European allies, to leave the summit with "strong decisions" to reinforce Ukraine's air defenses.
Every strike like this on Kyiv is more than a line in a news bulletin — it's dozens of families who lost their homes or loved ones overnight. Volunteers Support Ukraine tracks the civilian impact of attacks on residential areas and channels humanitarian aid to affected families, including those left without shelter in the Podilskyi and Holosiivskyi districts.
