Russia Strikes Kyiv as Zelenskyy Pleads for Patriot Missiles

Following a campaign of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes against Russian oil terminals in St. Petersburg and military bases in Kronstadt, the Federal Government of Russia launched a series of massive retaliatory aerial assaults on Ukraine. On July 6, 2026, Russia deployed 68 missiles and 351 drones against Kyiv and surrounding regions, resulting in an estimated 11 to 22 deaths and over 100 injuries. Ballistic missiles struck residential buildings in the Podilskyi and Darnytskyi districts and hit the Zhulyansky Machine-Building Plant Vizar, causing toxic smoke and emergency evacuations in Vyshneve.

Ukrainian officials reported that 29 ballistic missiles hit their targets without interception, citing a critical global shortage of PAC-2 and PAC-3 Patriot interceptors. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes as "terror" against civilians and urged allies to expedite missile deliveries. The escalation coincides with a NATO summit in Ankara, where U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with both Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war. Trump has concurrently pressured NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP.

In response, Ukraine intensified its own offensive, deploying midrange fixed-wing drones and long-range UAVs to isolate Crimea and strike Russian infrastructure. These operations targeted the Kerch Strait Bridge and oil refineries in the Yaroslavl and Leningrad regions, causing power blackouts in Sevastopol and significant drops in Baltic oil exports. Russia claimed to have intercepted over 500 Ukrainian drones across 21 regions, while Vladimir Putin dismissed the impact of the strikes on Russian oil infrastructure as not critical.