Russia launched more than 70 missiles and 650 drones at Ukrainian cities overnight on June 1–2, killing at least 22 civilians — with the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reporting 145 injured [12]. Hours later, Ukrainian drones struck the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal — described as Russia's largest oil transshipment facility on the Baltic Sea — on the opening day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), igniting a fire that Russian regional authorities did not publicly acknowledge [18][29].

The Russian assault concentrated on Kyiv and Dnipro. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported seven dead and 89 wounded in the capital after a final victim died in hospital [24]. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha reported 12 killed, including two children, and 37 injured in Dnipro [8]. Ukraine's Air Force Command stated Russia employed eight Zircon hypersonic missiles, 33 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, 32 Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles, and 656 unmanned aerial vehicles; air defenses intercepted 11 Iskander-Ms, 29 cruise missiles, and 602 drones [14]. Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov stated that Russia used cluster munitions in the attack to cause more casualties among civilians and rescue workers [6][8]. No independent humanitarian organization cited in available sources has publicly verified that allegation [26].

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the bombardment as "an absolutely clear statement from Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these attacks will continue" [5]. He urged the United States to supply additional Patriot interceptors, stating current air defense supplies "do not allow intercepting most missiles" [14], and called on Europe to develop its own anti-ballistic defense capability [7]. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated: "Putin is a war criminal and a loser who has no cards except terror. Moscow is losing on the battlefield. No number of missiles can change this" [7].

The Russian Defence Ministry framed the same operation differently, stating it had "launched a large-scale strike using long-range, high-precision air, land and sea-based weapons — including hypersonic aero-ballistic missiles and attack drones" in retaliation for what it called Ukrainian terrorist attacks on Russian civilians, including a strike on a vocational school in Starobelsk [7][14]. The Kremlin stated the conflict had entered a "different model" driven by Ukrainian actions [14]. President Vladimir Putin had earlier said Kyiv had decided to "открыть новую страницу в череде своих преступлений" (open a new page in its series of crimes) [8].

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the Russian strikes and called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire [12]. UN Humanitarian Coordinator Matthias Schmale said: "Instead of enjoying the start of the school summer break, children and their families spent the night in underground shelters, woken up by air raid sirens, explosions and uncertainty" [12]. Thirteen-year-old Kyiv resident Valeriia told UNICEF: "I thought I wasn't going to survive" when explosions blew open the shelter door [12]. Victoria, a resident of Kyiv's Lukianivka district, told RFI: « Les drones volaient les uns après les autres… quand ils ont commencé à exploser, c'était juste au-dessus de nos têtes » (The drones flew one after another… when they started exploding, it was right above our heads) [9]. Andriy, from the same district, described children thrown into the street by shrapnel [9].

Ukraine's retaliatory drone campaign targeted Russian territory across 15 regions. The Russian Defence Ministry reported intercepting 354 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones [4][15]. The most consequential target was the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in the Kirovsky district, which caught fire during the SPIEF opening [18][29][37]. St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov confirmed drone damage to infrastructure in the Kronstadt, Kirovsky, and Krasnoselsky districts but did not mention the oil terminal fire, an omission noted by Novaya Gazeta Europe [18]. Mobile internet was disrupted and flights were delayed at Pulkovo Airport [18][15]. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported 22 drones downed heading for the capital [15]. Leningrad Region Governor Alexandr Drozdenko reported 59 drones intercepted over his region [15].

Ukrainian military officials framed the strikes as part of a systematic campaign to deny Russia a safe rear area. Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert "Magyar" Brovdi stated: "The targets are coordinated by the newly created Center for Deep Destruction of the Unmanned Systems Forces. You have no rear in operational depth" [16]. Zelenskyy stated the oil terminal strike was aimed at disrupting the economic forum where Putin was expected [11]. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that an energy analyst called the repeated strikes on the Ust-Luga oil export terminal — a separate facility from the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal — the most serious threat to Russian oil exports since the full-scale invasion began [25]. Le Monde reported that successive Ukrainian strikes on Baltic oil terminals had temporarily reduced up to 40 percent of Russian oil export capacity [39]. Al Jazeera framed Ukraine's targeting of Russian oil infrastructure as an "energy war" intended to drain the Russian economy, noting reduced daily oil shipments and global price concerns [35].

The downstream effects of the drone campaign are visible in Russian-controlled territories. Fuel rationing has been introduced in occupied Luhansk, limiting sales to 20 liters per person, following similar restrictions in annexed Crimea, where A-95 gasoline is now sold only by coupon [19][23]. Crimean head Sergei Aksyonov promised stabilization within a month; residents described long queues and lottery-like availability [23]. Russia's government banned kerosene exports until the end of November to stabilize the domestic fuel market [19].

Separately, a Ukrainian drone struck a bus traveling from Moscow to Simferopol in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region, killing seven civilians and wounding eleven, according to Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-installed administration [1][11]. Pushilin called the attack an act of "unprecedented, inhuman aggression" [11].

Diplomatic prospects remain uncertain. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, stated: "This is the president's instruction: to try to end this war as soon as possible… preferably before winter" [10]. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said two weeks earlier that there were "no such talks occurring at this time" [10]. Russia's Foreign Ministry separately sanctioned five British nationals, including two journalists, accusing them of spreading falsehoods about Russian leadership [21]. The stalled international cleanup of Soviet-era nuclear waste at Andreyeva Bay — where half of 22,000 spent fuel assemblies remain unremoved — illustrates a further dimension of the conflict's collateral effects, with Norway's radiation safety director Per Strand stating: "Nobody wants a nuclear accident in the Arctic" [17].