KYIV -- Despite more than four years of full-scale war and repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, Ukrainians were shocked by the intensity of the latest Russian missile and drone barrage overnight that left death and destruction in Kyiv, Dnipro, and other cities.
Russia pummeled the Ukrainian capital in a major drone-and-missile assault, the second such attack in less than a month, killing at least six people and wounding more than 60 others. The central city of Dnipro was also hammered, with 12 people killed.
"The blast was so strong that debris ended up in my pockets, and I could barely find my apartment keys," Serhiy, a Kyiv resident who was outside the building at the time of the strike, told RFE/RL at the scene of the attack.
"We were just about to get into the car and leave," another Kyiv resident, Yulia, said.
"The blast threw us onto the car," she added.
"It's some kind of incredible miracle," she said, describing how she and her family survived the attack.
The June 2 attack came days after Moscow warned of further strikes on the capital, including against what it called Ukraine's "decision-making centers" and urged foreign citizens and diplomats to leave the city.
Russia launched 73 missiles and 656 drones overnight, with strikes recorded at 38 locations across Ukraine, primarily targeting Kyiv, the Ukrainian Air Forcesaid.
"I'm still shaking, my whole body is shaking. I don't know how to explain it -- it's just terrible," Yevhen Dniprovskiy, a victim of the attack, told Current Time in Kyiv.
"It was absolutely terrifying," a Dnipro resident told RFE/RL, describing the Russian strike on the city. "The building was shaking so violently that I thought it was going to collapse," she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyycondemnedthe deadly attacks saying "dozens of residential buildings and other purely civilian infrastructure" were damaged.
Ukrainians Face The Devastation After Massive Russian Attacks
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An explosion lights up the sky in Kyiv early on June 2.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A wounded man reacts at the site of a Russian strike on a suburb of Kyiv.
According to Ukraine's State Emergency Service, 13 people were killed in cities throughout Ukraine and over 100 were injured as a result of a Russian missile and drone attack in the early hours of June 2.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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The body of a person discovered under rubble in Dnipro is carried away following a wave of strikes that hit the eastern city on June 2.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A firefighter at work extinguishing a blaze in Kyiv.
Kyiv authorities say four people were killed in the Ukrainian capital during the overnight barrage.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A damaged luxury vehicle at a car dealership in Kyiv following the strikes
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A woman sits near a damaged apartment building in Dnipro early on the morning of June 2.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A woman hugs her cat close to the site of a missile or drone impact in Kyiv.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A woman walks through rubble at the entrance to a strike-damaged building in Kyiv.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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Rubble-covered cars in Kyiv
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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A man carries his dog through the rubble at the site of a strike in Kyiv.
The Kremlin framed the attack as targeting "defense industry plants" in cities across Ukraine, in response to unspecified "terrorist acts" by Kyiv.
At least 13 people were killed and scores hurt throughout Ukraine following a massive missile and drone barrage on the country in the early hours of June 2.
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"A large-scale attack and an absolutely clear statement from Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these attacks will continue," he wrote in a post on X.
Russia's Defense Ministryconfirmedits forces carried out the large-scale strikes using "long-range precision weapons" in response to what it called "terrorist acts" against targets inside Russia, adding that it hit several military facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
"The Russian Armed Forces are carrying out systematic strikes against Ukraine's military infrastructure, including targets in Kyiv and other cities," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a briefing on June 2.
'Terror Against Ukraine's Civilians'
Kyiv Mayor Viltali Klitschko reported damage to residential buildings, a clinic, a gas station, vehicles, and other infrastructure across several parts of the capital, with numerous fires, building collapses, and power outages.
Russia, Ukraine Exchange Long-Range Strikes (June 2, 2026)
"Russia continues terror against Ukraine's civilians," Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote in a post on X.
"The world must act. These attacks must stop. Every day of delay costs lives."
In the eastern city of Dnipro, local authorities said that at least 37 people, including children, were also injured in the attacks.
Emergency servicesreportedsix Dnipro residents were missing. Among those killed was a rescuer who was responding to the attack.
Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatovsaidthat "Russian monsters" once again struck a densely populated residential area with at least 49 residential buildings were damaged, seven of them virtually destroyed beyond repair.
"Twenty-three people were hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl. Doctors described her condition as moderate. Three of the injured are in serious condition," Governor Oleksandr Hanzha wrote in a Telegram post on June 2.
"The Russian attack on the Dnipro cut short the life of a little boy. Rescuers retrieved the body of a child born in 2023 from the rubble of a four-story building damaged by the attack." he added later in aposton Telegram.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks overnight on June 2 injured at least six people, including an 11-year-old girl, and caused fires and damage to homes, vehicles, and other buildings, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
"Putin is a war criminal and loser who has no cards left except terror," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said following Russia's June 2 attack.
"Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missiles can change that," he added.
Sybiha urged partner countries "to act" by boosting military support for Ukraine, increasing pressure on Russia through new sanctions and isolation, and advancing Ukraine's EU accession talks.
"Terrorists in Moscow must realize that their brutal attacks will get them nowhere, that the price for their regime will only increase, and that the only way out for Putin is to end this war immediately," Sybiha wrote in apost on X.
Russian Threats Against Kyiv
A day after Moscow pummeled the Kyiv region on May 24 with hundreds of drones and what Russian officials described as a new hypersonic missile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Moscow was planning to launch "systematic and consistent strikes" against Ukrainian military sites in Kyiv and "relevant decision-making centers."
Lavrov also advised that US citizens and diplomats should be evacuated from Kyiv.
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Ukraine's Foreign Ministrycondemned the Russian warningas "shameless blackmail" intended to intimidate foreign diplomats and international organizations based in Kyiv.
"Russia wants fear. Panic. The isolation of Ukraine," Katarina Maternova, Ukraine's ambassador to the European Union,said in a post to Facebook."It will not work."
Foreign diplomats also pushed back against the warning.
Russia has justified its increasing threats by citing an attack on a school dormitory in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk in May.
Local officials said more than 20 people were killed in the town of Starobilsk. Russian authorities accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting a civilian site.
Ukrainian military officials said their forces had struck the headquarters of a Russian drone unit and rejected allegations that civilian facilities had been targeted.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Current Time
Massive Russian Air Offensive Shocks Ukraine As Death Toll Mounts
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