News 25 July 2026

Kyiv's drone expo was hit by a Russian missile, and Moscow says it aimed for it

A Russian missile struck a defence-industry exhibition near Kyiv on Friday, killing at least ten. Moscow claimed the strike and Ukraine's prosecutor opened an inquiry into the event itself.

This one was not a miss. On Friday a Russian missile came down on a private training ground in the Kyiv region where a defence-industry showcase was under way, killing at least ten people and wounding close to a hundred — and Russia’s defence ministry then said, in plain language, that this was the point.

What was actually happening at the site?

A drone exhibition. Moscow said the display featured Ukrainian and foreign-made unmanned aircraft, including models still in development, which it accuses of being used against targets inside Russia. Local monitoring channels point to ballistic missiles of the Iskander or S-300 and S-400 families. Early casualty counts ran lower than the figure that eventually settled, which is what usually happens in the first hours after a strike like this.

Why is Ukraine investigating its own event?

Because of the awkward question left hanging: who signs off on gathering dozens of people around sensitive military hardware in a country under martial law? Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced a criminal inquiry into who decided to hold the showcase and whether the risks were properly assessed. Official decisions on the Ukrainian side are published on the government portal.

The strike landed on one of the heaviest days in weeks. Across both sides of the front, at least 21 people were killed in Russian and Ukrainian long-range attacks on Friday, with Ukrainian drones setting fire to a warehouse belonging to a large Russian e-commerce group near Saint Petersburg.

Kyiv had already been on the receiving end of a mass missile and drone attack earlier this month, and what is different now is the framing: Russia has stopped describing military hits as incidental and started claiming the target out loud. This is a war that no longer bothers with discretion.

By Marta Carneiro

Image: Trydence / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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