Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced via Telegram that two people were killed and at least 15 others injured, including a 12-year-old boy, during a massive overnight and early morning Russian assault involving missiles and drones.
Kyiv city police later reported the number of wounded in the capital had risen to six, including five individuals aged 36-55 and a 15-year-old girl, all suffering shrapnel injuries. An earlier report cited one fatality, a man in the Solomyanskyi district. The attack also damaged a kindergarten, a metro station, warehouses, and vehicles.
The Ukrainian Air Force stated Russia launched 24 missiles, including five hypersonic Kinzhal types, and 426 drones of various kinds, including Shahed kamikaze models. Ukrainian defenses reportedly intercepted all missiles either through anti-aircraft fire or electronic warfare countermeasures. Additionally, 200 Shahed attack drones were shot down, while 203 decoy drones “presumably” failed to reach targets due to electronic neutralization.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the strikes targeted “Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises and military airfield infrastructure,” utilizing long-range drones and missiles launched from air, land, and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital for a fifth consecutive night, stating air defenses downed a total of five drones targeting the city. Earlier, just before midnight, he reported two drones intercepted over Moscow and two more outside the city. The drone attacks prompted temporary flight restrictions at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports.
In the Rostov region, Governor Yuri Slyusar reported a fire broke out at a railway station in the village of Kamenolomni following drone debris impact. Three people were evacuated, with preliminary reports indicating no injuries. A flower shop in the same village also caught fire. Governor Slyusar added that drones were downed over Novoshakhtinsk, Shakhty, and Novocherkassk. Kamenolomni is located approximately 38 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border.
In a separate development, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to meet Metropolitan Antoniy of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, on July 26th. This marks Pope Leo’s first audience with the Russian church’s foreign relations chief since the tensions arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Metropolitan Antoniy represented Patriarch Kirill at Pope Francis’s funeral.
Russian news agency TASS, citing an unnamed source, reported that a third round of direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations could take place in Istanbul this weekend, following the pattern of previous talks. Ukrainian President Zelensky had recently expressed a desire to “revitalize” the Istanbul negotiation process, a statement the Kremlin deemed a “positive signal.”