Russia's attack on Ukrainian capital leaves 10 dead as Moscow's war casualties surpass 2 million: Details

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles targeting Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on the intervening night of 5 and 6 July. The attacks killed at least 10 people, authorities said, adding that the death toll could rise.

Citing Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, AFP reported, "Nine deaths and 46 wounded have now been confirmed as a result of the Russian attack (including five wounded children)." He added, "Sadly, this is not the final toll. Rescue operations are still ongoing."

Here's what we know about the latest attack

The attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that another large-scale attack was likely. In a post on X, he wrote, "This is typical of Putin: right after America’s Independence Day and before the NATO Summit in Ankara."

The attack, which was still underway in the early hours of Monday morning, involved ballistic and cruise missiles along with drones, AP reported, adding that explosions were heard across the city as civilians sought shelter in metro stations.

Several residential buildings were targeted in the latest assault, leaving many trapped in damaged multi-storey apartment blocks, while several cars were burned on city streets, CNN reported.

The attack came days after a combined Russian attack killed at least 31 people in Ukraine's capital last week. Following the attack, the Ukrainian President once again called for Western allies to boost the country's air defences, especially by supplying more Patriot missiles. He added that delays in replenishing supplies only encourage Russia to continue its four-year war.

The latest assault comes as the human toll of the war continues to mount.

Russia-Ukraine war casualties surpass two million: Report

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report last week that suggests that Moscow's decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has cost the country some 450,000 lives, adding that the war's total casualty numbers have surpassed two million.

Moscow has suffered a total of 1.4 million battlefield casualties, including killed, wounded, and missing soldiers, a stunning number that amounts to roughly 1 per cent of the country's population, according to CSIS's latest data.

Additionally, Russia's territorial control in Ukraine declined during the spring of 2026, with net losses of about 400 square kilometres across April and May. At the same time, Ukraine stepped up increasingly effective attacks on Russian military and economic targets by employing AI-enabled systems alongside a new approach to air power.

Russia's casualty numbers are increasingly becoming a problem for recruitment in Moscow. In 2026, Russia's monthly casualty count, estimated at between 30,000 and 34,000, likely exceeded its monthly recruitment of around 27,000 new soldiers.

On the other hand, Ukraine is estimated to have suffered between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including between 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities.

Seth G. Jones and Riley McCabe, the authors of the study, said, "Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all US fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II."

They further said that, in terms of casualties, Russian President Vladimir Putin's war is becoming much more costly for Moscow than it is for Kyiv. They noted that the casualty rate has likely risen to nearly eight-to-one in the first half of this year, meaning that for every Ukrainian soldier killed, wounded, or missing, there are eight Russian casualties.