Ukraine: Eight dead in new wave of Russian attacks

Ukraine war

Ukraine: Eight dead in new wave of Russian attacks

Russia repeatedly attacks Ukrainian cities with missiles. The anti-aircraft defense is overloaded – and cannot completely repel the next wave of attacks during the night. The number of victims is increasing.

The Ukraine During the night, it once again became the target of a massive wave of attacks by the Russian military, which even hit cities in the west of the country, far from the border. In order to overload the air defense, the attackers used dozens of rockets and cruise missiles as well as hundreds of drones, Ukrainian media reported this morning. Accordingly, an air alarm was triggered practically throughout the entire country. Initial reports said at least 8 dead and more than 30 injured.

“Dozens of ordinary homes, civilian businesses and infrastructure facilities were destroyed and damaged,” President said Volodymyr Zelensky on social networks. Russia have deployed more than 70 cruise missiles and missiles, including ballistic ones. “In addition, there were over 280 attack drones. More than 260 drones were destroyed,” said Zelensky.

According to his account, fighter aircraft were able to shoot down a significant number of cruise missiles. At the same time, Zelensky once again referred to the “critical shortage” of missiles for air defense and called on the allies – as they have repeatedly done recently – to supply the weapons. “All partners know how and with what they can help,” said Zelensky. “Delayed assistance and delays in the delivery of missile defense systems lead to exactly the kind of destruction and victims that we are unfortunately experiencing today.”

The night-time wave of attacks did not come as a surprise: Zelensky had warned on Wednesday of an imminent, serious air attack from Russia. Just a few days ago, the attackers massively shelled Ukraine again and the likelihood of another strike during the night is high, Zelensky wrote on social networks. He cited a situation report from the Ukrainian air force chief.

The Ukrainian armed forces complain that they lack anti-aircraft missiles to knock enemy missiles out of the sky – especially ballistic missiles, which are particularly difficult to counter because of their high speed. They are called upon to help USA and other countries that had modern Patriot systems – the only truly effective means against Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Strengthening Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defenses was also a topic of interest during Zelensky’s recent visit Washington. He was the US President Donald Trump He then said that he had promised the widely requested licenses to produce Patriot interceptor missiles in Ukraine – but this was not confirmed by the White House. Zelensky hopes to be able to increase production of the urgently needed defense missiles more quickly. Already in the spring he complained that the Ukrainians were running out of ammunition. The US war against Iran further reduced the global stockpile of defense missiles.

The extent of the damage only slowly became clear at daybreak. In a suburb of the southern city of Kryvyi Rih, the home of a large family was hit by a rocket, according to reports from the Kyiv Independent and the Ukrinform news agency. There were six deaths there alone, including two children aged five and twelve, and eight injured.