Deadly Russian strikes hammer Kyiv on eve of Trump trip to critical NATO summit

On July 6, 2026, Russia struck Kyiv and the surrounding region with missiles and drones on the eve of a NATO summit in Turkey. The Times of India wrote that the attack used 68 missiles and 351 drones. Death tolls differ between accounts: at least 14 killed in Kyiv according to The Guardian, 11 according to Al Jazeera, and 20, 21 and 24 in other accounts including for the Kyiv region. ABC News wrote that it was the second Russian attack on Kyiv in less than a week.

The strikes came as Trump was set to travel to the summit, where Zelensky was due to meet him. Bloomberg wrote that the strike exposed a gap in Ukraine's air defence, and BelTA Russian wrote that NATO acknowledged it cannot meet Kyiv's air defence needs.