Kyiv official: City's air defenses intercept all incoming missiles, drones Russia launched overnight.

Ukrainian air defenses destroyed all of the missiles and drones that Russia launched at Kyiv overnight on June 4, Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration reported[1] on Telegram. According to Popko, all of the missiles and drones heading for Kyiv were intercepted on the "far outskirts" of the city. "For the second night in a row, Kyiv residents have not heard the sound of explosions overhead," he said. Air raid alerts were activated in the city of Kyiv and many Ukrainian oblasts, with the exception of the country's western-most oblasts, just before 2 a.m. local time on June 4.

Shortly after the air raid sirens were activated, the Kyiv City Military Administration wrote on Telegram around 3 a.m. local time that the city's are defenses were "already operating" due to an "increased threat" of a Russian aerial attack. Explosions were then heard in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, the Suspilne news outlet reported[2] at around 3:30 a.m. local time. No information on damages or casualties has been made available at the time of publication.

Russia has consistently launched aerial assaults on Kyiv, with over 20 nightly attacks over the month of May alone. The strikes are an apparent effort by Moscow to exhaust Ukraine's air defenses following the arrival of U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems[3]. A June 3 Russian missile attack on a residential area in the town of Pidhorodne in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injured 20 people, including five children.

Update: 20 injured, including 5 children, in Russian missile attack near Dnipro

A Russian attack on a residential area in the town of Pidhorodne in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injured 20 people, including five children, Governor Serhii Lysak reported on June 3.

Contributing editor

Lili is a contributing editor at the Kyiv Independent. She joined the Kyiv Post in 2021 first as a staff writer covering business news and then as business editor. Lili is originally from Washington, D.C., but currently resides in New York where she is completing a master's degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian affairs with a focus on Ukrainian studies at Columbia University.

She is also currently interning with the Human Rights Watch European and Central Asia division.

From 2017-2020 Lili served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, after which she interned with the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

References

1. ^ reported (t.me)
2. ^ reported (kyivindependent.com)
3. ^ Patriot air defense systems (kyivindependent.com)
4. ^ Update: 20 injured, including 5 children, in Russian missile attack near DniproA Russian attack on a residential area in the town of Pidhorodne in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injured 20 people, including five children, Governor Serhii Lysak reported on June 3. (kyivindependent.com)