Russian Overnight Attack On Kyiv Ignites Fires In Residential Buildings, Killing 2

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service July 10, 2025

Russian drones attacked Kyiv early on July 10 for the second straight night, killing 2 people and sparking fires, officials said as air raid sirens were activated across more than half of the country to warn of the widespread attack.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two dwellings had caught fire in a central district, and emergency crews were dispatched to different parts of the city.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said the roofs of two buildings were on fire. Six of Kyiv's 10 districts were hit, with fires breaking out in various buildings, storage areas, and cars and drone fragments falling to the ground, he said.

The Ukrainian military said two people were killed and at least 12 were injured.

A Russian air strike earlier on July 9 killed three people and injured one in the frontline town of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine's east, the Emergency Service said on Telegram.

The strike destroyed a one-story administrative building, and rescue teams later pulled the bodies of two of the dead out from under rubble. Firefighters extinguished blazes in four buildings.

The attacks came after Russia launched 728 drones and 13 hypersonic Kinzhal and ballistic Iskander-K missiles on Ukraine the night before and through the morning of July 9.

"It was the highest number of aerial targets in a single day," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.

Nearly half the drones were Iranian-made Shaheds, according to Zelenskyy.

The attack prompted a renewed call from Zelenskyy for "biting" sanctions against Russian oil and other measures to try and bring Moscow to the negotiating table for peace talks.

Zelenskyy met earlier on July 9 with US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg in Rome and expressed Ukraine's full support for US President Donald Trump's peace initiative.

"An unconditional, comprehensive cease-fire and a meeting at the level of leaders are needed to ensure peace negotiations are genuine and effective," the Ukrainian presidential office said in a statement at its website.

One of the topics of the Zelenskyy-Kellogg meeting was strengthening Ukraine's air defenses amid the recent massive attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Zelenskyy also highlighted "the importance of signals from Washington about resuming military aid supplies to Ukraine," the statement said.

The Pentagon last week announced it would stop some weapons shipments over concerns that US stockpiles were getting too low. But Trump has since said more weapons would be sent to Ukraine to help it defend itself.

"They have to be able to defend themselves," Trump said on July 8. "They're getting hit very hard now."

Trump earlier this week expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the grinding war that Moscow launched in early 2022 after speaking with him by phone.

Zelenskyy said he and Kellogg discussed proposals to slap tougher sanctions on Moscow to increase pressure on Putin to agree to a cease-fire.

"We understand the need for tougher restrictions on Russian energy, especially secondary sanctions targeting buyers of Russian oil," Zelenskyy said on X.

He expressed hope for progress on legislation introduced in the US Congress calling for tougher sanctions. Zelenskyy said the legislation "could certainly make Russia give greater thought to peace."

The bill, sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat-Connecticut) and backed by dozens of other members of Congress, would give the president the power to impose additional sanctions on Russia and new punishing tariffs on countries that support Russia's war effort.

Zelenskyy and Kellogg are in Rome to attend a conference aimed mainly at mobilizing international support for Ukraine.

The meeting also is to cover strengthening Ukraine's defenses, prospects for purchasing American weapons, Ukrainian-US defense manufacturing, including joint drone production projects, and localization efforts in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with his Russian counterpart on July 10 in Kuala Lumpur, a US State Department official said, according to US news reports. Rubio is to meet Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It will be the second in-person meeting between the two diplomats.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted early on July 10 as saying that she could confirm that "such a meeting is being worked out."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-war-drone- attack-putin-zelenskyy-trump/33470137.html

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Russian Overnight Attack On Kyiv Ignites Fires In Residential Buildings, Killing 2