Russia kills at least 14 in Kyiv missile and drone barrage on eve of NATO Ankara summit

Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv in a mass overnight barrage on Monday 6 July, killing at least 11 people in the city and three others in the surrounding Kyiv Oblast, with at least 60 people wounded, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. The attack came ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey, where US President Donald Trump will meet Zelensky to make a renewed push to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Rescue crews were pulling residents from buildings shattered by the overnight barrage, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram, adding that the death toll in the capital had risen to 11 with 46 people wounded throughout the city.

There was "destruction and damage" in four districts of the city, Klitschko said, adding that the Podilsky district was hit the hardest. A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's City Military Administration. In the Darnytsia district, several multi-storey buildings were damaged and people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

In the town of Vyshneve, a fire continued to burn at the site of a missile strike as authorities ordered the evacuation of nearby residents. More than 400 rescuers and police officers were involved in the emergency response.

Ballistic missiles broke through untouched

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched a combined attack involving 23 ballistic missiles, 39 cruise missiles, six hypersonic Zircon missiles and 351 attack and decoy drones overnight, with Kyiv as the primary target. Air defences shot down 37 missiles and 326 drones, while 29 ballistic missiles and 18 drones struck 34 locations across the country.

The attacks caused power outages across a number of regions in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, the country's electricity transmission agency said.

Russia conducted what its Defence Ministry described as a "massive" attack on Kyiv and other locations using long-range, high-precision air-, land- and sea-launched weapons and drones. The ministry said it had hit military and energy facilities in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as military airfields in several other Ukrainian regions. These claims could not be independently verified.

The assault was the second on the capital and its surroundings in less than a week, and came as both sides increased long-range attacks, underlining the growing reach of the war more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The fresh assault came just days after a ferocious Russian attack on Kyiv killed around 30 people last Thursday — the third-deadliest attack on the capital since the war began.

Zelensky renews plea for Patriot interceptors

Zelensky said the "insufficient supply of interceptor missiles" was the reason Ukraine was unable to shoot down any ballistic missiles in Monday's assault. He urged the US and European allies to leave the NATO summit in Ankara with "strong decisions" on strengthening Ukraine's air defences.

Zelensky had warned hours before the attack of another large-scale Russian strike on the city. In a post on X on Sunday, he said: "This is typical of Putin: right after America's Independence Day and before the NATO Summit in Ankara. Russia wants to bring more evil and kill people."

Ukraine has repeatedly said it is short of interceptors for its Patriot defence system, which are the only effective weapon to shoot down incoming ballistic projectiles.

Ankara summit opens Tuesday

The NATO summit is scheduled to be held in Ankara, Turkey, on 7–8 July 2026. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has outlined three core priorities for the gathering: continuing to increase allied defence investment, bolstering transatlantic defence industrial production, and supporting Ukraine.

Officials expect leaders to focus on progress towards defence spending targets and boosting defence industrial production. NATO members are expected to reaffirm support for Ukraine and pledge further assistance, with allies set to pledge €70bn in military equipment, assistance and training for Ukraine in 2026.

The attack comes days before Zelensky is scheduled to meet Trump on the sidelines of the summit on 8 July as part of a renewed effort to end Russia's war against Ukraine. The planned meeting follows a nearly 90-minute phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, during which the US president offered to help end the war, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Russian forces have also stepped up efforts to take more of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, a key objective for the Kremlin, as Ukraine's cities face near-nightly attacks from Moscow's drones and missiles.

This is a developing story.