On the night of July 2, Russia delivered a massive combined strike against Ukraine — 570 air attack assets: 74 missiles and 496 UAVs of various types. The main target was Kyiv. By scale and variety of weapons, the attack became one of the largest throughout the full-scale war.
What and where it came from
According to the Ukrainian Air Force data, Russia used several types of weapons simultaneously from different directions:
- 4 anti-ship missiles 3M22 "Zircon" — launched from Kursk region
- 24 ballistic missiles Iskander-M / S-400 — Bryansk and Kursk regions
- 34 cruise missiles Kh-101 — Vologda region
- 8 "Kalibr" missiles — Novorossiysk
- 4 guided aviation missiles Kh-59/69 — Voronezh region
- 496 strike UAVs — Shahed, "Gerbera", "Italmas", "Banderol", "Parody" — from six directions
A distinctive feature of the attack recorded by the Air Force was the simultaneous arrival from different azimuths and an unusually high proportion of ballistic and reactive drones. This complicates air defense operations, as different types of targets require different interceptors.
What was intercepted, what got through
Defense forces neutralized 524 out of 570 targets: 48 missiles and 476 drones. This means 26 missiles and approximately 20 UAVs broke through to the city. Notably, air defense failed to intercept a single "Zircon" — all four hypersonic missiles reached their targets.
"Do not delay decisions on air defense for Ukraine! This is our main request to partners after the night of horrors that Kyiv experienced"
— Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha
Consequences: 13 killed, about 100 damaged buildings
According to Prime Minister Yuliia Sviridenko, direct hits were recorded in at least 20 residential buildings, with approximately 100 buildings damaged in total across all city districts. Emergency responders worked at 15 locations simultaneously, clearing rubble in Darnitsky district.
As of the morning of July 2: 13 killed, 86 wounded — including two children, confirmed by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. The air alert lasted over 11 hours — from 19:52 on July 1 to 7:06 in the morning. More than 52,000 people sheltered in subway stations — a new record since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Damage affected all 10 districts: direct hits on multi-story buildings in Pechersk and Darnitsky district, a hotel fire and a non-residential building in Shevchenkivsky, warehouses in Obolon district burned until morning.
Reactions: from Klitschko to Sybiha
Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents not to leave shelter at the first explosions — at 2 a.m. that night. Minister Sybiha, after the all-clear, addressed partners with direct language: without additional air defense systems and sanctions hitting Russia's missile industry, the attacks will continue. Prime Minister Sviridenko called "strengthening air defense and tougher sanctions" the only way to stop the terror.
This is not empty rhetoric: after the April 26 attack, when "Zircons" were first massively used against Kyiv, partners did not provide any additional Patriot-class systems. July 2 — a repeat of the same scenario, only with twice the scale of the raid.
If at the upcoming meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein format) the decision on additional Patriot systems is delayed again — the next attack will likely not be smaller: Russia has already received confirmation that the hypersonic component of the strike remains unpunished.
