Destruction in Kyiv, Ukraine after Russia’s missile and drone strikes, July 2, 2026

EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Can Russia Hold Out in Occupied Crimea?

Thursday’s Coverage: Russia Murders 21+ Civilians, Injures 85 in Strikes on Kyiv

UPDATE 0627 GMT:

Ukraine’s military says it struck 12 power substations and one gas distribution station in Russian-occupied territories during a 48-hour operation on Wednesday and Thursday.

The head of Ukraine’s unmanned forces, Robert Brovdi said the attacks shut down energy facilities in occupied Crimea, already suffering from widespread power outages, as well as in occupied areas in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ten of the electrical substations are in Crimea and one each in Luhansk and Donetsk. A gas distribution station in Luhansk and a fuel depot in Zaporizhzhia were hit.

“What a moonlit, starry, clear night… Moscow will fall,” Brovdi wrote.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that “it is important that the world does not remain silent” about Russia’s murder of at least 30 civilians and injuring of 91 in Kyiv.

Officials issued the revised toll late Thursday. Search and rescue operations were ongoing at several sites, including a partially-collapsed multi-story residential block.

Zelensky told journalists, “[Vladimir] Putin is losing this war….He understands that the only thing he can do is intimidate people and simply kill civilians with missile strikes.”

The President pointed to the gaps in air defense against ballistic missiles, 28 of which were fired on Kyiv in the latest assault.

“If our partners had delivered what they promised on time, I think we could have saved more homes and, frankly, more lives,” he said. He estimated that Ukraine needs at least 140 Patriot missiles to intercept an attack such as Thursday’s, which included 74 ballistic missiles as well as 496 drones.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky added, “We have been discussing licenses for the production of Patriots with the U.S. Administration for a long time already…. We hope for a positive response from President Trump to protect lives.”

The President referred to the PURL program, under which NATO members buy missiles from the US and transfer them to Ukraine:

However, to reliably protect lives, we need our own production. European production here in Ukraine, or jointly with our partners, would also support the US in operations whenever needed.