Russia launched a barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens in strikes on Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Kharkiv, The Guardian reported on June 2. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his call for U.S. President Donald Trump to send Patriot missile interceptors after the attack, saying Ukraine needed added protection from ballistic and other missile strikes.

Russia is using long-range strikes to exploit gaps in Ukrainian air defense while Kyiv intensifies drone attacks on Russian energy, logistics and military targets. Zelensky has repeatedly warned that Ukraine is running short of Patriot interceptors, which remain the main U.S.-supplied system capable of intercepting fast Russian ballistic missiles.