Russia strikes Ukraine with heavy wave of missiles and drones, 4 dead
At least four people have been killed after Russia launched an intense wave of drone and cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian authorities said early on Friday.
Air raid sirens were heard in all regions across the country, as the Ukrainian Air Force warned that several Russian bombers had taken off and likely already fired cruise missiles.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least four people had died in the capital, with 20 injured.
"Search and rescue operations are ongoing in several locations," he wrote on Telegram.
The Kiev City Military Administration said drones had hit multiple residential buildings throughout the city.
A gas station in the city's Dniprovskyi district had "significant damage," the administration reported on Telegram.
In north-western Ukraine, at least five people were injured in Russian attacks, Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk reported on Telegram.
According to the mayor, Russia attacked Lutsk with 15 drones and six missiles, damaging an apartment building, vehicles, businesses and a government institution.
It was unclear whether the attacks were part of a widely anticipated large-scale retaliation by Russia, following Ukraine's coordinated drone strikes on several Russian military airfields deep behind the front lines last weekend.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years. Talks to end the fighting have produced very limited results, and the warring parties are still far apart in their demands.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
35 minutes ago
- Forbes
Saturday, June 7. Russia's War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine
KYIV, UKRAINE - JUNE 6: Rubble and debris lie in a destroyed apartment at damaged residential ... More building after a Russian drone-and-missile attack on June 6, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo by Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,200. Russia's Attacks on Ukraine Days after operation Spiderweb, Russia launched 407 drones and 45 missiles at the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the early hours of Friday, June 6th. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow's attack injured 80, killed six, and targeted 'almost all' of Ukraine, listing nine regions, from Lviv in the west to Sumy in the northeast. On June 2, a Russian strike on the northern city of Sumy killed five people and wounded at least 30 others. Late on June 4, drone attacks on residential areas in the Chernihiv region killed five people, including a one-year-old child. In war-torn eastern Donetsk province, systematic artillery shelling killed seven residents and wounded 14 others. On June 5, Russian glide bombs destroyed the Kherson Regional State Administration building, unused since the war began. Russian attacks within the region have killed at least four civilians since the beginning of the month. Trump-Putin Call U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their fourth phone call, during which Putin warned that Moscow 'would have to respond' to Ukraine's recent airbase strikes. The Kremlin later described the strikes as acts of terror aimed at sabotaging peace efforts, while Trump noted that the discussion also touched on nuclear negotiations and potential Vatican-led mediation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the call, accusing global leaders of tacitly enabling Russian aggression through their failure to act decisively. 'Since the beginning of this year, the Russian army has carried out attacks against Ukraine using nearly 27,700 aerial bombs, almost 11,200 Shahed drones, around 9,000 other types of attack UAVs, and more than 700 missiles, including ballistic ones,' he wrote on Facebook, underscoring the scale and intensity of Moscow's assaults. Zelenskyy called for immediate high-level negotiations under a monitored ceasefire and condemned any delays as tacit approval of Putin's escalating warfare. He warned that each new Russian strike and every diplomatic deferral only emboldens the Kremlin, asserting that if strong leaders fail to stop Putin, they not only share responsibility for his actions but risk diminishing their nations' credibility as global powers. U.S. Redirects Anti-Drone Tech from Ukraine to the Middle East The Trump administration has redirected advanced anti-drone technology originally earmarked for Ukraine to U.S. forces in the Middle East, citing urgent threats from Iranian and Houthi drones. The reallocation of proximity fuses, critical to Ukraine's counter-drone defense, signals a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy amid Kyiv's efforts to neutralize escalating Russian aerial assaults. Last month alone, the Kremlin set records for overnight drone attacks, peaking at 355 on May 26, a stark increase from the 20-40 reported daily a year ago. Critics of the Pentagon's decision warn that depriving Ukraine of essential defenses risks emboldening Moscow, while proponents argue the reallocation reflects the Pentagon's need to meet global security obligations with limited resources. Ukraine Strikes Crimean Bridge Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) recently targeted the Crimean Bridge, the first strike on it in almost two years. Early on June 3, explosives equivalent to 2,425 pounds of TNT detonated, causing 'significant' damage to the bridge's seabed foundations. Although a precise assessment of the bridge's damage remains unavailable, Russian occupation authorities reopened the crossing mere hours after the attack. The bridge, completed in 2019, has served as a crucial logistics artery for Russia's southern occupation forces yet has been targeted only three times since the 2022 invasion and was swiftly repaired following previous attacks in October, 2022, and July, 2023. Ukrainian officials framed the latest strike as a justified response to occupation, while Russian sources reported attempts to repel further maritime drone attacks near the site. The strike on the Crimean Bridge follows one of Ukraine's most effective operations, code-named 'Spider's Web,' which struck Russia's strategic air fleet. Ukraine initially reported 41 damaged aircraft, roughly one-third of Russia's strategic bombers; three days later, the SBU released a video showing 22 planes. U.S. officials estimate Russian losses at about 10 aircraft destroyed and up to 20 damaged. Russia's energy revenues dwindle to record-low Russia's oil and gas revenues fell 35%year-over-year in May, dropping to $6.55 billion, as Western sanctions and falling oil prices have squeezed the Kremlin's key revenue stream. Oil and gas, historically providing up to 40% of Russia's federal budget revenues, have faltered dramatically, swelling Russia's fiscal deficit to $41 billion, or 1.7% of GDP, in the first four months of 2025. Despite its objections, Moscow failed to block OPEC+ production hikes: the oil cartel increased its July targets by 411,000 barrels per day on May 31. Meanwhile, Russian crude shipments declined by 170,000 barrels per day in May, bringing total flows to a daily average of 3.24 million. This drop in volume contributed to a 24% week-on-week decrease in the gross value of seaborne crude exports, which fell to $990 million. By Danylo Nosov, Alan Sacks
The Hill
42 minutes ago
- The Hill
Russia hits Kharkiv with powerful drone attack as peace talks remain in limbo
Russia launched another wave of drone and airstrikes on Ukraine early Saturday, hitting the Kharkiv region and killing at least three people, according to officials, The latest attack comes as peace talks between the two nations to end the more than three-year-long war remain in limbo. Moscow overnight launched 215 missiles and drones toward the northeastern city, according to Ukraine's Air Force. The air defenses downed 87 drones and seven missiles, including one short-range Iskander missile, officials said. In the attack on Kharkiv — the nation's second largest city — a minimum of three people were killed and 21 were injured, Ukraine's foreign ministry said. Among the wounded individuals were a baby just over a month old and a 14-year-old girl. 'At least 43 buildings were damaged, including 23 apartment blocks and 15 houses. Hundreds of windows were shattered, roofs torn, and a civilian enterprise severely damaged,' the foreign ministry said early Saturday on social platform X. Apart from Kharkiv, Russia also attacked other regions, including Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil, Odesa, and others, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it was targeting repair stations for weapons and ammunition depots. Earlier this week, Russia launched retaliatory drone strikes toward Ukraine, killing five people, after Kyiv attacked Russian airfields. The strikes followed Russian President Vladimir Putin's phone call with President Trump — who has aired frustration with the Kremlin leader as the U.S. seeks to broker a ceasefire deal in Eastern Europe. While Trump said the conversation was 'good,' he acknowledged it would not result in 'immediate peace' on the battlefield. Russian attacks, the president said, were in response to Ukraine's so-called 'Operation Spider Web,' a complex aerial operation, which was carried out last Sunday, where Ukraine destroyed or damaged dozens of Russian warplanes. Trump has in some ways backed away from his ceasefire push in the region, instead pressuring the two sides to work together to permanently end the conflict. So far, Ukrainian and Russian officials have met twice in Turkey for diplomatic discussions. While no breakthrough came out of the meetings, the nations agreed to swap hundreds of prisoners.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Putin is a murderer' — Zelensky rejects Trump's claim that Russia, Ukraine are like 'kids'
President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's comparison of Russia's war against Ukraine to 'children fighting in a park' during his interview with ABC News published on June 6. "We are not kids with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the playground in the park," Zelensky said, as quoted by the TV network. "He is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids." The U.S. president, who has repeatedly claimed he alone can bring an end to the war, said on June 5 that it might be best not to intervene in Russia's war against Ukraine for now. "Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,' Trump said at a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House. 'They hate each other, and they're fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled. Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart." Trump's statement came amid stalled negotiations, rising casualties from Russian drone strikes, and Russia's refusal to make any concessions. Kyiv has repeatedly urged Russia to accept a Western-backed 30-day ceasefire as the first step toward a broader peace deal — a move that Moscow again rejected during the latest round of negotiations in Istanbul on June 2. In the interview with ABC News, Zelensky also spoke of the "limitless" pain endured by a Ukrainian father who lost his wife and three children in a missile strike. Zelensky added that Trump "could not feel fully and understand this pain." "And it's not about President Trump, it's about any person who is not here in the country, who is some thousands of miles away — (they) cannot feel fully and understand this pain," Zelensky said, as quoted by ABC News. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia hits Ukraine with large-scale attack days after Operation Spiderweb; Ukraine targets Russian air bases in 'preemptive strike' We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
