Russian missile and drone barrage on Kyiv kills at least 11 before NATO summit
Russia launched a large overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv on July 6, killing at least 11 people — 10 in the capital and one in surrounding districts — and wounding more than 46, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine’s military said Russia fired 68 missiles and 351 drones across the country, damaging at least 15 buildings in Kyiv, including four in the historic Podilskyi district.
It was the second major assault on the capital in under a week, following a strike days earlier that killed 31 people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned beforehand that intelligence pointed to “a new massive strike,” tied to the timing.
The attack lands just ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey beginning July 8, where Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet President Trump amid a renewed diplomatic push to end the war. The scale of the barrage — hundreds of drones alongside dozens of missiles — is designed to saturate Ukraine’s air defenses, and the repeated strikes on Kyiv strengthen Kyiv’s case at the summit for more interceptors even as Trump pursues a negotiated settlement with Moscow.