Published on 6/18/2026
Ukrainian officials said – early Thursday morning – that Russia fired several missiles at targets inside Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev. While the Belarusian authorities announced that a bus transporting children was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.
The military governor of Kiev, Timur Tkachenko, said via the Telegram application: “The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles,” without immediately indicating any deaths or injuries.
Several explosions were heard in central Kiev while people were seen running through the streets heading to shelters. The Ukrainian Air Force said that at least two missiles were on their way towards Kiev, while another missile was directed at the Poltava region in the center of the country.
More than four years after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian sides have been intensifying air strikes for several months, leading to increasing civilian casualties.
Despite his usual reluctance to support Kiev, US President Donald Trump announced – last Tuesday during the G7 summit in Evian, France – that Russia must “reach an agreement,” and that Washington may reimpose sanctions that were lifted on Moscow.
Last Monday, an intense Russian bombardment with drones and missiles killed 11 people across Ukraine, and caused damage to an ancient cathedral located in Kiev, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
In the Ukrainian region of Luhansk – controlled by Russia – one person was killed yesterday, Wednesday, in a Ukrainian attack on a residential building, and a woman was killed in her car, according to local authorities appointed by Moscow.
Ukrainian attacks
Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to carry out focused attacks on Russian targets using drones, as a drone hit a bus carrying a children’s soccer team from Belarus in the Russian border region of Bryansk, killing an accompanying woman, according to what local authorities reported on Wednesday.
The Belarusian Ministry of Health said that the strike, which occurred in the border region with Ukraine, also resulted in the injury of seven people, including five children, and all of them were taken to hospital.
Footage from a Belarusian TV channel showed a gray bus with shrapnel marks on one side and its windows shattered. Local sources reported that the bus was carrying 44 people, including 28 children.
The acting governor of the Bryansk region, Yegor Kovalchuk, said – on a social media platform – that “the bus was on its way to spend a holiday in the city of Gelendzhik” located on the Russian coast of the Black Sea.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry described the strike as a “new terrorist act against civilians” and demanded “explanations” from Kiev.
For its part, the Ukrainian army denied launching marches towards the Bryansk region at the aforementioned time, describing the Belarusian statements as “false.”
Belarus – which borders Ukraine and the countries of NATO’s eastern wing – is a close ally of Russia, while the capital, Minsk’s relations with Kiev have been tense since Moscow used its territory as a launching pad for a large-scale attack in 2022.
