Russian barrage kills 2, wounds dozens in Kyiv and suburbs
Russian missile and drone strikes hammered Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight, killing at least two people and wounding more than two dozen, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday, as Moscow pressed on with a strategy of long-range strikes more than four years after the full-scale invasion began.
AFP journalists in the capital reported multiple explosions after midnight, following Ukrainian air force warnings of incoming ballistic missiles. Kyiv’s military administration said the assault damaged residential buildings and warehouses and ignited fires in four districts. One woman was killed in the city and at least seven others were wounded, while regional officials said another person died in Bucha, west of Kyiv, and 21 more were injured in the surrounding area.
“The enemy is once again deliberately striking civilians and civilian infrastructure,” the administration said on Telegram.
Air-defense pressure builds
Saturday’s attacks on Kyiv and its suburbs killed 10 people and wounded more than 30, and authorities said the latest barrage followed a series of deadly overnight strikes on the capital. The rapid succession of attacks has reinforced Ukrainian appeals for more U.S.-made Patriot interceptors and other ammunition needed to counter Russian ballistic missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the shortage of interceptors “only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives.” He met President Donald Trump last Tuesday in part to press Washington for licenses that would allow Ukraine to build Patriots domestically.
Russia more than doubled its use of missiles in July compared with the previous month, according to an AFP analysis, part of a broader escalation in long-range fighting. Ukrainian drones, meanwhile, have become a near-daily feature of the war, striking oil-and-gas facilities and logistics sites inside Russia. Over the weekend, Ukrainian drones also sank a large Russian container ship in the Black Sea.
Deadly strikes inside Russia
Five people were killed and 10 wounded Tuesday morning in the Moscow region when strikes hit depots belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries, according to local officials. Moscow’s mayor said Wednesday that Russian air defenses had intercepted and destroyed at least 10 drones heading toward the capital.
A deliberate ‘hunt’
In southern Ukraine, outrage spread after a video appeared to show a man being chased by a drone in Kherson city. Ukrainian officials described the episode as a deliberate “hunt” and “safari” targeting civilians.
UN human rights monitors have expressed concern over civilian casualties, now at their highest level since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022. Russia said Saturday’s attack struck “military-industrial complex industries and logistics centers,” though one damaged building in Kyiv was Lithuania’s embassy. Another was a five-story residential building.