The Ukrainian Air Force counted 73 missiles and 656 drones fired by Russia and claimed to have shot down 40 and 602 respectively. The Russian Defense Ministry for its part affirmed that this “massive strike” had only targeted targets linked to Ukrainian forces.
A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine left at least 23 dead, including 16 in the city of Dnipro, kyiv announced, reiterating its urgent call for American help to receive more anti-aircraft defense systems. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned in recent days of an imminent massive strike by Russia, after it had asked foreigners living in kyiv, including members of diplomatic staff, to leave the capital.
The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, reported seven deaths and more than fifty injured in his city. In the industrial city of Dnipro (center-east), the death toll rose to 16 dead, including two children, and 42 injured, according to local authorities. These bombings constituted “A massive attack and a clear statement from Russia: if Ukraine is not protected against ballistic missile and other strikes, these attacks will continue.”commented the Ukrainian head of state on social networks.
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His Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriï Sybiga, for his part, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of not having “the only card is terror†and claimed that Russia was “losing on the battlefield”. According to AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukraine took back some 282 km² from the Russians in May, reducing for the second month in a row the part of its territory controlled by Moscow, which had been gaining ground since the fall of 2023. The Russian army continues to occupy around 20% of Ukraine and kyiv has indicated that its objective is to stop the fighting on the current front line.
More than 70 missiles
After more than four years of Russian invasion of Ukraine, negotiations to put an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War are at a standstill. According to French diplomacy, these new Russian strikes illustrate a “Total numbers” for efforts towards peace. The Ukrainian Air Force counted 73 missiles and 656 drones fired by Russia and claimed to have shot down 40 and 602 respectively. The Russian Defense Ministry for its part affirmed that this “massive strike” had only targeted targets linked to Ukrainian forces.
As missile explosions rang out, kyiv residents rushed to shelters loaded with bags and blankets in the streets, where a large plume of smoke rose, AFP journalists noted. Anastassia spent the night in her bathroom – when it comes to missile strikes, the metro is too far. “All the windows exploded”she testified to AFP. In the port city of Odessa (south), a maternity ward and a hospital were affected, according to the authorities, but there were no victims. In Kharkiv (north-east), 14 people were injured. In this region bordering Russia, the authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 7,000 civilians from several localities on Tuesday, due to “from the security situation”.
The Russian army, which regularly bombs Ukraine, has intensified its attacks in broad daylight for several months, while the Ukrainians have also increased their strikes, particularly long-range, against Russia. On the Russian side, a civilian was killed Monday in the Kursk region, close to the border, by a Ukrainian drone, said local governor Alexandre Khinchtein. The army claimed to have shot down 158 Ukrainian drones over Russia during the day. Ukrainian forces claimed responsibility for a strike on the Ilski refinery in the Krasnodar region of southwest Russia, where local authorities reported a fire started by a drone.
Lettre à Trump
The Ukrainian president reiterated on Tuesday his call for Western allies to support Ukraine’s supplies and said “absolutely necessary” United States aid in munitions. “Unfortunately, the current level of our anti-aircraft defense stocks does not allow us to shoot down a significant portion of the missiles” Russians, Mr. Zelensky stressed in the evening.
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Every delay in supporting Ukraine’s air defense system “Come together and live”alerted Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. Ukraine claims to have developed effective means of combating drones but remains dependent on supplies from its allies to defend itself against missiles, which are more difficult to thwart.
Last week, Volodymyr Zelensky asked in a letter to his American counterpart Donald Trump to send Ukraine more missiles for the expensive Patriot systems, in order to deal with the intensification of Russian attacks.
