Russia pounds Kyiv with biggest aerial attacks of war despite Trump-Putin call

CBS News

2 days ago

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Waves of drone and missile attacks targeted Kyiv overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land.
The barrage injured at least 23 people and inflicted severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught. Blasts lit up the night sky and echoed across the city as air raid sirens wailed. The blue lights of emergency vehicles reflected off high-rise buildings, and debris blocked city streets.
"It was a harsh, sleepless night," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
A 5-story residential building in Kyiv was heavily damaged by a Russian airstrike on July 4, 2025.
Ihor Kuznietsov / Novyny LIVE / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Less than a week ago, Russia launched what was then the largest aerial assault of the war. That strategy has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 620-mile front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure.
Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine during the night, the country's air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, but Russia also launched 11 missiles.
The attacks on Kyiv began the same day a phone call took place between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy called the timing of the strikes a deliberate signal that Moscow has no intention of ending the war.
Mr. Trump said he was "very disappointed" with the call and he would call Zelenskyy on Friday.
Peace moves not making much progress
U.S-led international peace efforts have been fruitless so far. Recent direct peace talks have led only to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of war, wounded troops and the bodies of fallen soldiers. No date has been set for further negotiations.
Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry said another prisoner swap took place Friday, though neither side said how many soldiers were involved. Zelenskyy said most of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian soldiers were classified as "wounded and seriously ill."
When asked if he made any progress with Putin on a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, Mr. Trump said: "No, I didn't make any progress with him today at all."
Kyiv residents use a building's basement as a bomb shelter during a Russian drone-and-missile strike on July 4, 2025.
Ihor Kuznietsov / Novyny LIVE / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
"I'm not happy about that. I'm not happy about that," Mr. Trump said of Russia's war in Ukraine. "I don't think he's looking to stop" the war, he said later of Putin.
According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the "root causes" of the conflict.
"Russia will not back down from these goals," Ushakov told reporters after the call.
War continuing unabated
Russia's army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called out Russian disinformation efforts.
The U.S. has paused some shipments of military aid to Ukraine, including crucial air defense missiles. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CBS News in a statement that the "decision was made to put America's interests first following" a Defense Department "review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe."
A U.S. official told CBS News the move was over concerns about U.S. military stockpiles falling too low.
Ukraine's main European backers are considering how they can help pick up the slack. Zelenskyy says plans are afoot to build up Ukraine's domestic arms industry, but scaling up will take time.
The Ukrainian response needs to be speedy, since Russia has been escalating its aerial attacks.
Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a new monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier this week that Moscow also launched more than 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian towns and cities that month.
Kyiv's night "one of the worst so far"
Throughout the night, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault.
"Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X. "One of the worst so far."
Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described "families running into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction in the heart of our capital."
"What Kyiv endured last night, cannot be called anything but a deliberate act of terror," she wrote on X.
Kyiv was the primary target of the countrywide attack. At least 14 people were hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Zelenskyy called the Kyiv attack "cynical."
In Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed its forces targeted factories producing drones and other military equipment in Kyiv.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed.
Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites.
In addition to the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions also sustained damage, Zelenskyy said.