Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has called on Western partners to "act, not only condemn" after Russia launched 729 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 100 across Kyiv, Dnipro, and Kamianske. In an X post on 2 June, Sybiha said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "a war criminal and loser who has no cards except terror," and laid out concrete steps for Kyiv's allies.
Air defense and long-range capabilities
Sybiha urged partners to direct the unblocked European Peace Facility to fund the PURL program — a NATO-coordinated mechanism for procuring weapons for Ukraine — and to buy additional Patriot air defense systems and interceptor missiles. He also called for expanding a developing anti-ballistic coalition and increasing investment in Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities.
Sanctions, frozen assets, and EU accession
The minister pressed for fresh sanctions on Russia, travel bans for Russian military personnel, and the "full use" of frozen Russian sovereign assets, alongside further international isolation of Moscow. Separately, he urged Brussels to open EU accession negotiation clusters for Ukraine — a long-discussed step delayed by political objections from individual member states, most prominently Hungary.
"The only way out for Putin is to end this war"
"Terrorists in Moscow must realize that their brutal attacks won't bring them anywhere," Sybiha wrote. "The price for their regime will only increase. The only way out for Putin is to immediately end this war. Peace efforts will only succeed when they are backed with real pressure on Moscow."
The overnight barrage
Russia launched a massed combined strike on Ukraine overnight into 2 June, using strike UAVs and air, sea, and land-based missiles of various types. The primary direction of the strike was Kyiv. Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Poltava oblasts were also attacked. Air Force radio-technical troops detected 729 means of air attack — 73 missiles and 656 UAVs. Air defenses shot down or suppressed 642 targets — 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Six people were killed and 66 injured in the capital—including 3 children aged 3, 11, and 17—Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. In Dnipro, 12 people were killed and 37 injured, with children among the casualties, the State Emergency Service said. Three people were injured in nearby Kamianske. The missile mix included 33 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, 27 Kh-101 cruise missiles, five Kalibr cruise missiles, and eight 3M22 Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship missiles. Emergency crews were searching for residents trapped under the rubble of a 9-story residential building in Kyiv's Podilskyi district that partially collapsed in what Klitschko described as a "double tap" strike.
