Russia launches fresh ballistic missile attack against Kyiv
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Explosions rang out in Kyiv the evening of June 25, as a fresh barrage of Russian ballistic missiles attacked the capital.
Shortly before 9 p.m. local time, Ukraine's Air Force issued a ballistic missile warning. Minutes later, Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground reported multiple rounds of explosions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that air defense units were at work repelling an attack against the capital.
Information on casualties or damage is not yet available. An aerial alert remains in effect for Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions.
The latest ballistic missile strike on Kyiv comes less than two weeks after Russia's massive combined attack on June 15 — an attack that killed five people and left the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in flames.
Kyiv responded with unprecedented attacks on Moscow, hitting the Russian capital and its main oil refinery with waves of drones on June 16 and 18. The June 18 strike was the largest drone attack on Moscow of the full-scale war.
The attacks — which led the Moscow Oil Refinery to suspend operations for an indefinite period, exacerbating a growing fuel crisis — prompted threats of retaliation from the Kremlin.
As Russian troops' gains on the front line have stalled, Moscow has increasingly relied on ballistic missiles to inflict maximum damage in large-scale aerial strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine's ability to protect its cities from Russian ballistic missiles depends heavily on its dwindling supply of Patriot interceptors — ammunition for the U.S.-made air defense system that remains the only weapon to have proven effective against ballistic threats.
