Locals clean up after a Russian drone struck an apartment building, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 10 Locals clean up after a Russian drone struck an apartment building, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Summary Ukraine says Russia launched 407 drones and 45 missiles

Zelenskiy says attack wounded 49 people

Kremlin had warned of retaliation against Kyiv

Ukraine earlier attacked Russia’s strategic bomber aircraft

KYIV, June 6 (Reuters) – Russia launched an intense missile and drone barrage at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Friday and three people were killed, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the country.

The attacks followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin , conveyed via U.S. President Donald Trump , that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.

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Kyiv’s military administration said three people were killed in the missile and drone salvo against the capital. They were first responders who had rushed to the scene of one of the strikes, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

“Overnight, Russia ‘responded’ to its destroyed aircraft… by attacking civilians in Ukraine…. Multi-storey buildings hit. Energy infrastructure damaged,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out the strike on military and military-related targets in response to what it called Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 49 people nationwide had been injured in the attacks, which also struck several other towns and cities as well as Kyiv, as he called on Ukraine’s Western allies to ramp up pressure on Russia.

The air force said Russia had used 407 drones, one of the largest numbers recorded in a single attack. Forty-five cruise and ballistic missiles were also fired, it said.

Kyiv’s metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, the military administration said. The state rail company said it was also diverting some trains due to rail damage outside the city.

BOOMING EXPLOSIONS

Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites.

Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks.

In the capital’s Solomianskyi district, a Russian drone slammed into the side of an apartment building, leaving a gaping hole and burn marks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.

Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone’s engine.

Earlier in the night, Reuters reporters heard the sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries.

Zelenskiy called for concerted pressure on Russia.

“If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively,” he wrote on X.

As well as Kyiv, Russian forces also struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, Mayor Serhii Nadal said.

The regional administration said the attack had injured 10 people and recommended that residents temporarily stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire.

Fifteen people were injured in the northwestern city of Lutsk where an attack damaged private homes, educational institutions and a government building, prosecutors said.

The Ukrainian military said it had launched a pre-emptive strike overnight on the Engels and Dyagilevo airfields in the Russian regions of Saratov and Ryazan, in addition to striking at least three fuel reservoirs.

In one of the most audacious attacks of the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia’s strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.

After a phone conversation with Putin on Wednesday, Trump said the Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian air bases.

Reporting by Tom Balmforth, Max Hunder, Gleb Garanich and Anastasiia Malenko; writing by Ron Popeski; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Clarence Fernandez, Gareth Jones and Mark Herinrich

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Russia launches massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, killing 3 in Kyiv

toggle caption Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

KYIV, Ukraine — An overnight missile and drone attack on Ukraine killed at least three people and injured dozens more in one of the largest attacks on the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than three years ago.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 452 drones overnight as well as 45 missiles, including cruise and ballistic missiles. They struck the capital, Kyiv, and Ukrainian cities throughout the country, hitting apartment buildings, administrative buildings, commercial warehouses and cafes.

Explosions lasted for hours overnight in the Ukrainian capital as several fires were reported from the attacks.

NPR’s Kyiv bureau heard drones buzzing over the neighborhood as well as the blasts from anti-aircraft units and clips of heavy machine guns from Ukraine’s mobile air defense teams firing trying to shoot down the drones.

toggle caption Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia targeted “almost all of Ukraine” in the attacks and said the Kremlin must be held accountable.

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“Now is the moment when America, Europe and everyone in the world together can stop this war by putting pressure on Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel. “If someone does not put pressure and allows the war more time to take lives, this is complicity and responsibility.”

The attacks took place after Trump likened the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to a dispute between children , saying the two countries should “fight for a while” before pursuing peace.

“Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who emphasized support for Ukraine.

The comments were a departure from Trump’s recent efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and peace deal between the two countries.

toggle caption Dan Bashakov/AP

Ukraine also hit military air bases in Russia overnight, the Ukrainian military said in a Facebook post, writing that “strikes on military infrastructure will continue until the complete stop of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.”

During a phone call earlier this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday, Trump said the Russian leader had warned that he would retaliate for a covert Ukrainian attack in Russia last weekend that destroyed dozens of Russian bombers.

Russian forces attack Ukrainian cities every day but have been doing so on a much larger scale in recent weeks.

Zelensky calls for accountability after deadly Russian strikes

Image source, Reuters

Three rescue workers have been killed and dozens of people injured by overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine, in one of Moscow’s largest aerial attacks of the war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia “must be held accountable” for the strikes, which he says targeted “almost all of Ukraine” – including the capital, Kyiv.

Ukrainian authorities say Moscow used over 400 drones and more than 40 missiles overnight. Meanwhile, Russia says it intercepted 174 Ukrainian drones and three Ukrainian missiles over the Black Sea.

It comes after US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had vowed to respond to Ukraine’s surprise Operation Spider’s Web drone attacks on Russian airfields earlier this week.

We’re ending our live coverage for now. You can read more in our news story.

Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —

Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles across broad swaths of Ukraine early Friday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others, days after Kyiv launched a daring raid on Moscow’s fleet of strategic bombers.

For residents of Kyiv, the night’s soundtrack was familiar: the shrieking whir of drones, air raid sirens and large explosions overhead – whether from air defenses successfully downing missiles, or projectiles puncturing the capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had used more than 400 drones and 40 missiles in the overnight attack, making it among the war’s largest. He said Moscow targeted “almost all” of Ukraine, listing nine regions, from Lviv in the west to Sumy in the northeast.

Although Russia has pummeled Ukraine almost daily over three years of full-scale war, Ukrainians had been bracing for retaliation since Sunday, when Kyiv launched an audacious operation that struck more than a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers.

In a call with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would have to respond to Kyiv’s assault.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its strikes were in response to what it called Kyiv’s “terrorist acts.” It was not immediately clear if the attack was the extent of Russia’s pledged retaliation, or if Putin intends to escalate further. After the embarrassment of Kyiv’s operation, there was a chorus of bellicose calls from pro-Kremlin pundits for a severe – potentially nuclear – response.

After daylight broke on Friday, residents are able to see the extent of damage on apartment buildings from Russia’s strikes overnight. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff on Friday said it launched overnight strikes on two Russian airfields, where it said Moscow had concentrated many of the aircraft that had not been damaged in Kyiv’s “Spiderweb” operation last weekend.

Ukraine stressed that the operation, which blindsided the Kremlin, had targeted the planes that Russia uses to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and kill civilians. After Russia’s large-scale attack Friday, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow had “responded” to its destroyed aircraft by once again “attacking civilians in Ukraine.”

As daylight broke, images from Kyiv showed flames rising over apartment buildings and firefighting crews at work, with residents picking through the debris of damaged apartments. Several cars parked in the streets below were covered with shards of glass and slabs of masonry torn from the walls of residential buildings.

Of the 452 drones and missiles fired by Russia, Ukraine’s air force said it had downed 406. It said Russia had used 407 drones, six ballistic missiles and 38 cruise missiles.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia’s barrage comprised 407 drones, six ballistic missiles, 38 cruise missiles and an anti-radar missile. Of those 452 projectiles, the air force said it had downed 406, including 32 of the cruise missiles and four of the ballistic missiles. The other two ballistic missiles did not reach their targets, it added.

Fire and smoke rise in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday after a Russian drone strike. Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Four people were killed in Kyiv, said mayor Vitali Klitschko. Ukraine’s emergency services also said that three firefighters had been killed in the capital. It was not clear whether Klitschko’s toll included the three firefighters.

The strikes also hit Chernihiv, near the border with Belarus, which was rocked by 14 explosions from drones and ballistic missiles, including cruise missiles and Iskander-M missiles, local officials said. Five others were wounded in strikes in the northwestern city of Lutsk, near the border with Poland. Footage geolocated by CNN showed at least four missiles slamming into the city, kicking up fiery explosions on impact.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had also intercepted and destroyed 174 Ukrainian drones from Thursday evening to early Friday morning, and had destroyed three Ukrainian Neptune-MD guided missiles over the Black Sea.

Putin’s call with Trump

All week, Ukrainians have been bracing for Russia’s retaliation to last weekend’s drone attack, which struck 34% of Moscow’s nuclear-capable bombers stationed at airfields as far away as Siberia.

On Tuesday, Ukraine also launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge, the only direct connection point between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, with 1,100 kilograms of explosives that had been planted underwater.

An apartment of a residential multi-storey building is seen damaged after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

After Trump’s call with Putin on Wednesday, the US president said that his Russian counterpart had told him that Moscow would have to respond to Ukraine’s assaults. Trump’s account of the call gave no indication that he had urged Putin to temper his response, to the dismay of many in Ukraine.

“When Putin mentioned he is going to avenge or deliver a new strike against Ukraine, we know what it means. It’s about civilians,” Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told CNN earlier this week. “And President Trump didn’t say, ‘Vladimir, stop.’”

Despite Trump’s support for recent peace talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, on Thursday he signaled that he may be adopting a more hands-off approach, likening the war to a brawl between children.

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,” Trump said in the Oval Office, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looking on silently. “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.”

Russia launched a significant drone and missile attack on Ukraine, resulting in multiple casualties, including four deaths in Kyiv.

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Russia has intensified its military actions against Ukraine, launching a series of drone and missile attacks that have resulted in significant casualties. This escalation comes just days after Ukraine’s daring strike on a Russian bomber fleet, highlighting the ongoing volatility in the region.

5 Key Takeaways Russia conducts drone and missile attacks on Ukraine

Recent strikes follow Ukraine’s bomber fleet attack

Three fatalities reported in Kyiv from strikes

Large-scale Russian strikes kill four in Kyiv

Key events in Russia-Ukraine war documented

On June 6, 2025, reports confirmed that these assaults have killed at least four people in Kyiv and left many others injured. As the conflict approaches its 1,198th day, the situation remains dire, with both sides bracing for further confrontations.

Fast Answer: Russia’s recent drone and missile strikes on Ukraine have resulted in multiple fatalities, underscoring the escalating conflict’s global implications.

What does this mean for international stability? The ongoing conflict raises critical concerns about security and humanitarian issues in Europe and beyond. As tensions rise, the global community must consider the following:

The potential for further escalation in military actions.

Increased humanitarian needs for affected civilians.

The impact on global energy markets and security alliances.

The situation in Ukraine poses a significant threat to European stability and may have far-reaching consequences for international relations.

As the conflict continues, it is essential for global leaders to engage in diplomatic efforts to prevent further loss of life and foster a peaceful resolution.