NATO was forced to scramble fighters on Monday (July 6) as Russia launched a massive missile and kamikaze drone attack on Ukraine. At least eight people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, with multiple residential buildings hit in the capital city, where dozens were injured.
A suspected air defence missile warehouse in Holosiivskyi district exploded due to a Russian strike, leading to massive secondary blasts. Hours earlier, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said intelligence indicated a huge strike ordered by Vladimir Putin was imminent. “Russia wants to bring more evil and kill people. Please stay safe and heed any air raid alerts,” he warned Ukrainians.
The savage strikes came on the eve of the NATO summit in Ankara, which Western leaders, including Donald Trump and the UK’s outgoing Sir Keir Starmer, will attend.
A statement from Alliance state Poland’s armed forces operational command said: “Due to the activity of the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation, which strikes the territory of Ukraine, military aviation has begun operations in Polish airspace.”
The NATO military response was “preventive” over Poland, which borders Ukraine; “Fighters started the operation, and ground air defence systems and radio-location recognition have reached alert.”
In Kyiv, there were reports of at least 15 explosions in as many minutes. Among the targets was reportedly the Kyiv Roshen Confectionery Factory, owned by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, with fire raging from the historic 19th-century building. Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Station was also targeted.
In Kyiv’s Podilskyi district, there were fires at four different residential buildings. People were trapped inside at least one of the buildings, with the fifth to the ninth floors destroyed.
There were unconfirmed reports of Patriot air defence missile failures during the Russian onslaught. Initial reports said seven were killed in Kyiv and one in Bucha, Kyiv region. At least 34 were injured.
Overnight, Ukrainian attacks once more hit a key oil refinery in Yaroslavl, supplying Moscow amid chronic fuel shortages across Russia. The key Kerch port in occupied Crimea was also attacked along with power substations in the peninsula, triggering widespread blackouts. Naval port Sevastopol was plunged into darkness and energy facilities in annexed Luhansk were also hit.
Defence Ministry sources in Russia said they had hit military industry facilities, the fuel and energy sector, and airfield infrastructure in Ukraine – in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russia’s “civilian infrastructure”. The strikes targeted Kyiv and the Kyiv region, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions.
