Russia fired its largest missile and drone attack on Ukraine in more than three years of war, Kyiv said Wednesday (July 9). The strikes mainly targeted areas furthest from the front line.
The attack comes just after US President Donald Trump said he would increase weapons deliveries to Ukraine – reversing an earlier US policy announcement – and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of talking “bullshit” on Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had attacked with 728 drones and 13 missiles, adding that its air defense systems intercepted 711 drones and that at least seven missiles were destroyed.The attacks were the latest in a series of Russian air strikes on Kyiv that have intensified in recent weeks and included some of the deadliest assaults of the war on the city of three million people.
Earlier on July 4, Russia struck Kyiv with drones in an all-night attack, injuring at least 23 people, damaging railway infrastructure and setting buildings and cars on fire throughout the city, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said. Air raid alerts lasted more than eight hours as Russia launched a total of 539 drones and 11 missiles targeting the Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s Air Force said. Ukraine’s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia, the country’s largest carrier, said on Telegram that the attack on Kyiv damaged railway infrastructure in the city, diverting a number of passenger trains and causing delays.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed 718 of the drones. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. Ukraine launched 86 drones towards Russia overnight, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the assault as a deliberate show of force from Moscow, underscoring Russia’s resistance to peace efforts. “This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and ceasefire, but Russia rejects everything,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “Everyone who wants peace must act.”
The primary target appeared to be the city of Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, prompting Poland to scramble military aircraft in response to the spillover threat near its airspace. “Virtually everything was flying towards Lutsk,” said Ivan Rudnitskyi, head of the Volyn region’s military administration.