Russia fired one of the largest aerial salvos of its war on Ukraine overnight on 2 June, launching 73 missiles and 656 drones at targets in at least seven oblasts and killing at least 18 civilians, Ukrainian air force and regional officials said. More than 110 people were wounded, including children, and rescue crews continued searching for residents believed trapped beneath a collapsed apartment block in Dnipro.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported 6 deaths and 58 injuries in the capital, where strikes damaged a 24-story residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district, set fire to a 9-story building in Podil after debris struck the roof, and hit a clinic, a gas station, and vehicles across several districts. Debris also fell on the grounds of a kindergarten, Klitschko said. Power was knocked out in parts of the city. In nearby Bucha, three homes, warehouse facilities, and non-residential buildings sustained damage.
Rescuer killed in repeat strike on Dnipro
The central city of Dnipro absorbed the deadliest single strike of the night. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast head Oleksandr Hanzha said 12 people were killed and 35 injured, 3 of them children, after Russian forces struck residential buildings, an enterprise, a fire station, and garages. Among the dead is a State Emergency Service rescuer who was killed when Russia delivered a second strike on the impact site while emergency crews were working, the agency said. Rescue operations continued at a destroyed four-story building, where officials said more residents may be buried under the rubble.
Three more people were wounded in the neighboring city of Kamianske, where an administrative building and apartment blocks were damaged, Hanzha added. Strikes hit five districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in total, with damage reported in the Nikopol, Synelnykove, and Kryvyi Rih areas.
Strikes also hit Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 8 people were wounded in Slobidskyi district, including an 11-year-old girl, while drone and ballistic missile strikes in Osnovianskyi district damaged a private house, vehicles, and an office building. In Poltava Oblast, drones and missiles struck Lubny district, damaging an enterprise and several homes and injuring 1 person, regional head Vitalii Diakivnych said. A drone hit a private house in central Chernihiv shortly after 01:55, sparking a fire but causing no casualties, the city council said. Zaporizhzhia came under attack from the evening of 1 June, with strikes on critical and industrial infrastructure reported by regional head Ivan Fedorov. In Mykolaiv Oblast, falling debris from intercepted Shahed drones damaged a private house, and FPV drones hit garages and other property in Bashtanka and Mykolaiv districts.
Attack followed Russian warnings to foreign diplomats
The barrage came days after Moscow announced plans for further strikes on what it called Ukraine's "decision-making centers" and urged foreign citizens and diplomats to leave Kyiv. Ukraine's air force said Russian forces deployed Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Caspian Sea, Iskander ballistic missiles, and air-launched missiles from Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers; monitoring channels also flagged the possible use of MiG-31K aircraft carrying Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles. Strikes were recorded at 38 locations nationwide.
