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The Independent
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘Putin wants us to panic': How Russia has amped up its aerial strikes on Ukraine
Russia has launched fresh aerial strikes on Ukraine overnight, killing two people and injuring several others. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 426 drones and 24 missiles overnight, bringing the total number of strikes on the country this month to 5,402. In response, president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to scale up production of air defence systems and interceptor drones to help protect against future attacks. Russia's aerial attack on Ukraine is the latest in a streak of record-breaking aerial attacks over the past two months. Below, The Independent looks at how, and why, Russia has decided to target Ukraine's cities with such devastating force. Attacks increased from June onwards Russia's aerial strikes on Ukraine have massively increased since June, with intense peaks. Figures show that the six most concentrated attacks have taken place in the past month. Putin's forces have launched 5,402 drones and missiles against Ukraine so far this month, with the pace of attacks surging sharply in recent weeks, according to figures from Ukraine's air force. The deadliest single day came on 9 July, when Moscow fired 741 drones and missiles. This was followed by other intense barrages, including 623 on 12 July and 550 on 4 July. While the number of strikes dipped mid-month with just 35 reported on 18 July and 64 on 17 July, the pace has picked up again over the past week, with 330 weapons fired on Saturday and a further 450 on Sunday. In June alone, there were five instances where Russia sent over 400 drones and missiles in a night. Russia has been 'planning increase in strikes' Federico Borsari, a Fellow with the Transatlantic Defence and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), has told The Independent that the Russian army are likely to have been planning an increase in strikes for at least a year. 'There were already signs that Russia was trying to increase its output in terms of assets and platforms that they could launch against Ukraine in 2024,' he said, adding that the increase in drones is an attempt to make air raids more effective. 'Russia is trying to diversify its strike packages to make them more cost-effective and achieve a scale of destruction that is sufficient to destroy key military targets such as airfields.' He added that, for more than three years, Russia was not 'very effective' when it came to 'diminishing the production capacity of Ukraine at the industrial level'. The Russian army had also failed to 'create a sense of panic and fear among the population in order to discredit the government and create the conditions for less efficacy on the front line,' he said. Putin 'trying to induce panic' with strikes Mr Borsari continued that Russia had been forced to be more tactical in its aims to increase damage against critical Ukrainian infrastructure, while also targeting its manpower. 'Russia is now also trying to focus on more strategic targets such as military enlistment offices, across different areas of Ukraine,' he said. 'The attempt here is not just to destroy energy plants or other infrastructure, but also to instil fear and create a sense of panic among the population. 'So, increasing the psychological effects of this war on the Ukrainian population and at the same time discouraging people from basically going to enlistment offices.' He said the psychological effects of the strikes could 'diminish the ability of the Ukrainian forces to recruit', adding: 'This is certainly an issue for Ukraine compared to Russia.' Earlier this month, the city of Lutsk, in Ukraine's north west, was hit by a Russian drone strike. Lutsk is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, with cargo planes and fighter jets routinely flying over the city. Analysis shows that while Moscow is increasing its drone output and ramping up the intensity of its attacks, they do not follow a consistent pattern. On 8 July, Russia fired 52 drones at Ukraine, followed by a record 550 the day after. The following day, it fired 322. Moscow taking 'on and off days' approach to strikes Marcel Plichta, a former US Department of Defense analyst, suggested that Russia was staggering its large attacks with an 'on and off days' approach. 'The on day you would have a really big and increasingly a record breaking attack and then on the off day you would have... like 100 drones or 61 drones,' he explained. 'The benefit to the large attack is, in addition to the fact that it grabs headlines, it's more likely to overwhelm Ukrainian air defence and damage the morale of the Ukrainian population. 'It's worse to try and shoot down 500 drones at once than it is 200 drones over two nights because you suddenly have to prioritise. You have to figure out where they all are and you need to respond to them. That's a much more challenging situation.' Both analysts added that the escalating aerial strikes indicated a ceasefire wasn't on the cards anytime soon, three years after Putin launched his brutal invasion of the country. 'Russia has demonstrated that they're all in on the Shahed as a platform. They'll tinker with it, they'll make improvements, and they'll introduce more complicated variants, but fundamentally they are all in on this idea of mass drone attacks to accompany their missiles,' Mr Plichta said. 'Basically from now until the end of the conflict, you're going to see a growth in the number of Shaheds being used. Maybe patterns of their usage will change again, but this overall number used per week, per month, per year, is going to keep growing as Russia produces more and better Shaheds.' He added: 'Ultimately the thing that stops Shaheds is a political end to the conflict, not necessarily a magic weapon that can shoot down interception rate or even striking production facilities.' Mr Borsari echoed his sentiment, saying: 'It's clear that Russia is not interested in achieving a ceasefire, at least based on the conditions that the US and Ukraine were hoping for.'
CNN
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Ukraine's drones spark Moscow airport disruptions as deadly wave of Russian missiles pound major cities
New waves of deadly Russian missiles pounded Ukraine overnight Sunday while long range drone attacks by Kyiv sparked travel chaos at Moscow's airports. Residents of Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities faced another sleepless night on Sunday as Russia launched 450 missiles and drones overnight into Monday, Ukraine's Air Force said. The majority were shot down but 23 struck across three locations and debris from intercepted missiles landed in 12 areas, it added. Nationwide air raid warnings were issued, except in three regions, with local authorities reporting at least two people killed and 16 wounded in the past 24 hours. 'Russian strikes are always an assault on humanity — in Kyiv, a kindergarten caught fire, along with residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure,' Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said. In Kyiv, the alert was raised at 11pm Sunday local time and remained in place for eight hours, with one killed and six wounded, police said. Kateryna, who only gave her first name, was among residents who rushed into Lukianivska subway station for shelter, in the city's northwest, where the entrance was damaged in the strikes. 'It was very scary when the attack happened,' she told Reuters, sitting on the station escalator with her husband and pet dog which the couple carried over shards and splinters in the aftermath of the strike. 'There was lots of smoke and dust, we all got very scared. There was a little panic but, because life has taught us how to behave, we've all gotten used to it. We cared for each other and for the animals too,' she said. Fires broke out on the roof across several buildings and a supermarket in the city's southeastern Darnytskyi district. Fires were also reported in the more central districts of Shevchenkivskyi and Dniprovskiy, affecting two residential buildings and a shopping mall, with debris falling on a kindergarten in Dniprovskiy. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, city mayor Ihor Terekhov reported 12 hits including one that ignited a blaze near a multistory residential building in the Kyivskyi district to the north. Elsewhere in the city, windows were blown out and there was damage to a road, tram tracks and electric wires. This latest attack includes cruise and ballistic missiles as well as powerful advanced Kinzhal missiles, which are difficult to intercept, Ukraine's Air Force confirmed. Russia has intensified its overnight strikes in recent weeks, targeting cities far from the frontline. Earlier this month it launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine involving 728 attack and decoy drones and 13 missiles, Ukraine's Air Force said. Kyiv's forces have also continued to find ways of striking deep inside Russia. Over the weekend thousands of passengers were forced to queue or sleep on the floor due to flight delays and cancelations at major Moscow airports sparked by long-range drone attacks, as seen in videos from Russian media. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the military downed 49 drones between Friday evening and Monday morning with no injuries or significant damage. Dozens more were intercepted in west and southwest regions including Kursk, Rostov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula and Lipetsk, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed. In his daily address on Saturday, Zelensky called for talks with Russia this week, to push forward ceasefire negotiations amid growing US pressure on Moscow to reach a deal. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was 'ready to move quickly' on achieving a peace deal with Ukraine, but its 'main goal' was to achieve its 'objectives'. The last round of ceasefire talks in Istanbul ended swiftly in early June, with Russian and Ukrainian delegates meeting for barely over an hour before calling it quits. Russia put forward maximalist territorial demands as part of preconditions for a ceasefire. Ukraine has previously refused to consider any territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
Miami Herald
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
5 killed, 39 injured as Russia launches 700 drones, missiles in Ukraine
July 9 (UPI) -- At least five people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the war, firing 741 drones and missiles against targets all across the country, including Kyiv and provinces in the far west. The Ukraine Air Force said in a post on its official social media account that air defenses shot down or jammed most of the 728 drones and 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, however some reached their marks. The city of Lutsk took the brunt of the attack in the west but the largest loss of life was in the east in the frontline province of Donetsk where three civilians were killed and 11 injured, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said Wednesday in an update on social media. In part-Russian-occupied Kherson one person was killed and 17 injured in strikes on settlements across the parts of the province still under Ukrainian control, including Kherson city, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a post on his Telegram account that at least one person had been killed and four injured in strikes on Kharkiv city and surrounding settlements, while Zaporizhzhia Gov. Ivan Federal reported hundreds of incidents with at least five civilians injured. Kyiv, where more than 40 people have been killed since Russian forces turned the focus of its air campaign on the capital in mid-June, came under heavy attack overnight with explosions heard starting at about midnight. One person was injured in a drone strike in an eastern outer suburb. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said damage had also been reported in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions but hailed the effectiveness of air defenses, including new home-grown defensive systems. "Our interceptor drones were used -- dozens of enemy targets were downed, and we are scaling up this technology. Mobile fire groups were also active -- they downed dozens as well. I thank all our warriors for their precision. At the moment, efforts are ongoing across many regions of Ukraine to eliminate the consequences of last night's Russian attack," he said in post on X. Calling the attacks "telling" given extensive recent efforts to negotiate a cease-fire by Ukraine's western partners, Zelensky called for more sanctions on Moscow, particularly targeting the oil exports he said funded its "war machine." "This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions -- biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow's war machine with money for over three years of the war. Secondary sanctions on those who buy this oil and thereby sponsor killings. Everyone who wants peace must act," he said. The airborne assault on Ukraine overnight came as U.S. President Donald Trump reversed a temporary pause on shipments of some weapons to Ukraine, including missiles for Ukraine's Patriot air defense batteries, key to protecting Ukraine from Russian missile and drone strikes. Trump has expressed growing impatience after Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukraine following a two-hour phone he held with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, his sixth with the Russian leader, complaining that no progress had been made. "We want to put defensive weapons [in Ukraine] because Putin is not ... treating human beings right. He's killing too many people, so we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine," Trump said Tuesday at a meeting of his cabinet. "We get a lot of bulls--- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," added Trump. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
09-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
5 killed, 39 injured as Russia launches 700 drones, missiles in Ukraine
Ukrainian firefighters battle a blaze in Kyiv on Friday following a ferocious Russian drone and missile attack on the capital. Russian forces unleashed a major airborne assault against targets all across the country overnight Tuesday. File Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/UPI | License Photo July 9 (UPI) -- At least five people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the war, firing 741 drones and missiles against targets all across the country, including Kyiv and provinces in the far west. The Ukraine Air Force said in a post on its official social media account that air defenses shot down or jammed most of the 728 drones and 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, however some reached their marks. The city of Lutsk took the brunt of the attack in the west but the largest loss of life was in the east in the frontline province of Donetsk where three civilians were killed and 11 injured, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said Wednesday in an update on social media. In part-Russian-occupied Kherson one person was killed and 17 injured in strikes on settlements across the parts of the province still under Ukrainian control, including Kherson city, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a post on his Telegram account that at least one person had been killed and four injured in strikes on Kharkiv city and surrounding settlements, while Zaporizhzhia Gov. Ivan Federal reported hundreds of incidents with at least five civilians injured. Kyiv, where more than 40 people have been killed since Russian forces turned the focus of its air campaign on the capital in mid-June, came under heavy attack overnight with explosions heard starting at about midnight. One person was injured in a drone strike in an eastern outer suburb. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said damage had also been reported in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions but hailed the effectiveness of air defenses, including new home-grown defensive systems. "Our interceptor drones were used -- dozens of enemy targets were downed, and we are scaling up this technology. Mobile fire groups were also active -- they downed dozens as well. I thank all our warriors for their precision. At the moment, efforts are ongoing across many regions of Ukraine to eliminate the consequences of last night's Russian attack," he said in post on X. Calling the attacks "telling" given extensive recent efforts to negotiate a cease-fire by Ukraine's western partners, Zelensky called for more sanctions on Moscow, particularly targeting the oil exports he said funded its "war machine." "This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions -- biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow's war machine with money for over three years of the war. Secondary sanctions on those who buy this oil and thereby sponsor killings. Everyone who wants peace must act," he said. The airborne assault on Ukraine overnight came as U.S. President Donald Trump reversed a temporary pause on shipments of some weapons to Ukraine, including missiles for Ukraine's Patriot air defense batteries, key to protecting Ukraine from Russian missile and drone strikes. Trump has expressed growing impatience after Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukraine following a two-hour phone he held with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, his sixth with the Russian leader, complaining that no progress had been made. "We want to put defensive weapons [in Ukraine] because Putin is not ... treating human beings right. He's killing too many people, so we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine," Trump said Tuesday at a meeting of his cabinet. "We get a lot of bulls--- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," added Trump.
Mint
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
477 drones, 60 missiles: Russia launches biggest aerial attack on Ukraine; F-16 downed, pilot killed
Russia -Ukraine war: Amid the soaring tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the former launched what officials described 'the most massive air strike' on Ukraine, firing 477 drones, 60 missiles overnight. While repelling the attack, Ukrainian F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died, Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X. The deadly assault is a part of Russia's escalating bombing campaign, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday. Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told the Associated Press that Russia's overnight onslaught was 'the most massive air strike' on Ukraine, taking into account both the drones and missiles fired as part of the attack. Russia's attack targeted regions across Ukraine, including western Ukraine, far from the frontline. Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish air force said Sunday. Out of the total 537 weapons that Russia fired at Ukraine, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed, the Ukraine Air Force said, reported news agencies. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a clip of the assault on X, claiming that the 'Russians were targeting everything that sustains life.' Zelenskyy said that almost all night, air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine, as Russia pounded with majorly Russian-Iranian Shahed drones along with 60 missiles of various types. The renewed wave of attacks comes after Russia President Vladimir Putin claimed Moscow was open to resuming peace talks in Istanbul. The ongong escalation, however, shows no signs of abating as US-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough. Two recent rounds of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
