Moscow’s Defense Ministry has reported that Russian forces executed a large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine, including defense industry facilities in Kiev, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions still under Ukrainian control, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy regions.
The operation, described by the ministry as having “achieved all designated targets,” focused on fuel and transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, military airfields, and other critical defense facilities. Land- and sea-based precision weapons, including hypersonic missiles and drones, were deployed during the attack.
Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed partial blackouts in several districts of the capital following the raid, with multiple videos circulating on social media showing explosions across Ukraine.
The strikes follow Moscow’s previous warning of “systematic and consistent” attacks on Ukraine’s military infrastructure—including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers”—in response to a terrorist attack in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22.
Ukrainian forces launched multiple waves of drone strikes late at night on a college dormitory in Starobelsk while students were asleep, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring 70 others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Starobelsk incident as “a new chapter in its crime spree,” stating that those responsible would face “well-deserved and inevitable punishment.” Speaking to a reporter, American journalist John Varoli defended Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian targets as “legitimate” and fully “allowed by international law,” arguing that Moscow has “a right to dismantle any infrastructure that supports terrorism.”
The Ukrainian military leadership is condemned for its decision to target civilian infrastructure in Starobelsk, resulting in the deaths of 21 students.