Russia launches major aerial attack on Kyiv before talks on support for Ukraine


By EMMA BURROWS and ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, only hours before the U.K. and Germany are to chair a meeting to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons.

The attack killed two people and wounded 15, including a 12-year-old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

In Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, a drone struck the entrance to a subway station where people had taken cover. Videos posted on social media showed the station platform engulfed by smoke, with dozens of people inside. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said the station had to be ventilated in what he called an “enhanced mode.”

Firefighters work in a destroyed apartment building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The heaviest strikes hit Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where a kindergarten, supermarket and warehouse facilities caught fire.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot arrived in Kyiv on Monday and visited some of the damage.

The hourslong drone and missile assault on Kyiv overnight into Monday underscored the urgency of Ukraine’s need for further Western military aid, especially in air defense, a week after Trump said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days.

US defense chief and NATO leader will attend Ukraine meeting

The virtual meeting will be led by British Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Moscow has intensified its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate as Russian drone production expands.



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