Russia's drone attacks on Ukraine hit record high in July
The drone attacks killed dozens of people and injured many more. They also damaged civilian targets, including many homes, a kindergarten and an ambulance.
According to the AFP news agency, data published by Ukraine's air force showed that Russia fired 6,297 long-range drones into Ukraine last month, up by nearly 16 percent compared with June.
The Kyiv Independent reported that Russia launched a record 6,129 Shahed-type drones in July, 14 times more than in the same month last year, when Russia launched just 423 drones.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told the Kyiv Independent that the real number of Russian drone attacks may be higher, since figures are based on estimates.
In just one night on July 9, Russian forces launched a record 741 drones and decoys on Western Ukraine, more than the number of drones it launched in the entire month of July last year.
The combined Russian missile and drone attacks on July 9 killed at least eight people in Ukraine's Sumy, Donetsk and Kherson regions, even as Ukrainian forces shot down all but 10 of the drones launched that day.
The July 9 attack came a day after United States President Donald Trump said his administration would help send Ukraine more 'defensive weapons', just days after the Pentagon had said it was halting deliveries of some weapons to Ukraine, due to low stockpiles.
'They have to be able to defend themselves,' Trump said, as he announced that European allies would finance Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine, from the US weapons company Raytheon. 'They are getting hit very hard now,' he added.
Russia's heavy drone and missile attacks continued right up until the end of the month, with an attack on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on July 31 killing at least 31 people, including five children, and wounding 159 others.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia used more than 300 drones and eight missiles in the attack.
According to the AFP, Russia also fired 198 missiles into Ukraine in July, more than in any month this year except in June.
The number of drones Russia fired in June was the second-highest amount after July, with 5,337 in total, according to the Kyiv Independent.
That included some 479 drones fired at Ukraine on June 9, just ahead of the start of a prisoner swap the two countries had agreed to at talks in Istanbul.
Peace talks continued in Turkiye last month but have so far failed to reach a lasting ceasefire agreement, even as Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its exports.
Russian drones flying higher
Russian forces have adjusted their drones since the 2022 invasion, so that they now fly several kilometres above ground, making it harder to shoot them down with machineguns.
This has made Ukraine even more dependent on US air defence weaponry, including the recently announced European-funded Patriot systems.
Russia also sends a combination of drone types to Ukraine. More than half carry explosives, but there are also decoys designed to waste Ukrainian defensive missiles and reconnaissance drones, which track Ukraine's air defence team locations.
Heavy drone barrages are also used to overwhelm defence systems when missiles are fired.
Russia imports both its heavy Mohajer-6 drones and cheaper, slower Shahed 'kamikaze' drones from Iran, which it described as an 'important partner' in late 2024.
Ukraine, which became the world's largest major arms importer from 2020 to 2024, has increasingly been buying its own supplies of millions of drones from local manufacturers.
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