Russia launches deadly barrage on Kyiv region on eve of NATO summit

 

Rescuers work on a multistorey residential building, damaged following a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on July 6, 2026. [AFP]

Russia struck Ukraine's Kyiv region with ballistic missiles and drones on Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens, authorities said, on the eve of a NATO summit in Turkey.

The assault was the second on the capital and its surroundings in less than a week and came as both sides stepped up long-range attacks.

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky are expected to discuss the war on the sidelines of the summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, which begins Tuesday.

After that, Trump plans to speak with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Washington seeks to revive stalled peace efforts to end the four-year war.

An AFP journalist in Kyiv heard more than 10 explosions during a ballistic missile alert early Monday. Around 30 minutes later, AFP journalists saw several flashes in the sky as another series of blasts rang out.

Authorities said 10 people were killed in Kyiv and one in the Bucha district northwest of the capital. At least 46 people were wounded in the capital and 15 others in surrounding areas.

Russia's defence ministry said it had carried out a "massive strike" using missiles and drones against what it described as "military-industrial enterprises," fuel and energy complex facilities in several Ukrainian regions.

The attack caused four fires to break out, all in residential buildings, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv region's military administration, wrote on Telegram.

"Places where people were simply sleeping tonight," he added.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted energy facilities inside Russia in recent weeks in an effort to weaken the Kremlin's war effort.

It has also struck at Moscow-controlled territory in Ukraine that predates the current invasion.

In Russian-annexed Crimea, governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said a Ukrainian strike near Sevastopol had temporarily cut electricity supplies.

"Our energy workers have managed to reconnect power via backup schemes to almost all facilities, and electricity has been restored to most residential buildings in Sevastopol," Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram hours after the attack.

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on state-backed Max that several waves of drones bound for the Russian capital were shot down by Russian air defences.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces had shot down 519 Ukrainian drones across more than 20 regions overnight, including around Moscow and Russian-annexed Crimea.

The White House said Trump would meet Zelensky on Wednesday during the NATO summit.

"The president's obviously getting together with him to talk about how we can end the war. That's been a priority of his for a long time," a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said Trump would then "follow up" with Putin.

The meetings come with diplomatic efforts to end the war largely stalled.

Zelensky said Sunday that Ukrainian troops were continuing to fight for the strategic eastern town of Kostyantynivka, a gateway to key positions in the Donetsk region.

Russia claimed Friday to have captured the town, but Kyiv dismissed the announcement as "a lie".

"Fighting is also continuing for Kostyantynivka, which (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to appear there," Zelensky said in a nightly address.

Both Putin and Zelensky held separate phone calls with Trump on Saturday to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.