More than 70 missiles and 280 attack drones struck at least 10 Ukrainian regions, killing adults and children, damaging homes and infrastructure, and raising new concerns over shortages of Western-supplied air defense interceptors.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Russian forces launched a large-scale missile and drone attack across Ukraine overnight into Thursday, killing at least eight civilians, including children, and wounding more than 50 others as strikes reached cities and regions far from the eastern front.
The barrage included more than 70 missiles, many of them ballistic, and more than 280 attack drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian defenses intercepted more than 260 of the drones, but missiles and other weapons struck residential areas, businesses, warehouses and infrastructure across at least 10 regions.
The attack intensified Russia’s near-daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities as Kyiv faces a critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile systems. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly sought additional Patriot air defense batteries and interceptor missiles, which they consider the most effective protection against Russian ballistic attacks.
The strikes came two days after Zelenskyy met in Washington with President Donald Trump and representatives of U.S. defense companies to press for faster and larger Patriot deliveries. The war with Iran has depleted American stocks of the interceptors, while Trump has said Ukraine will be permitted to manufacture Patriot systems under license, though establishing production could take considerable time.
“Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
“This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” he added.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation targeted Ukrainian airfields, weapons factories, military telecommunications systems and logistics facilities. Moscow said the targets included drone manufacturing plants and storage sites, a missile factory, an aircraft repair facility, a factory producing electronic components and a chemical plant.
Some of the heaviest casualties occurred in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where six people were killed and 10 were wounded, regional military administration chief Oleksandr Hanzha said.
Among the dead near Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, were a 6-year-old girl and two boys ages 11 and 17. Their parents were also killed, while two other children were rescued alive from beneath the rubble.
“It was an ordinary home, blown (to) smithereens by a ballistic missile …” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
In Kyiv, a ballistic missile strike killed a 31-year-old man and wounded two others, according to the National Police press service.
A cruise missile struck the western city of Lviv, injuring 34 people, including children ages 6, 13 and 15, regional military administration chief Maksym Kozytskyi said. Emergency crews continued searching through debris after the attack.
In the Poltava region, a Russian drone hit company warehouses and killed one person, regional military leader Vitalii Diakivnych said.
Russian aircraft also dropped three powerful glide bombs on an industrial area in the southern city of Kherson on Thursday morning, killing a 56-year-old man, local authorities reported.
The overnight barrage also raised concerns in neighboring Poland after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had crossed into Polish territory and violated NATO airspace.
Sybiha said the incident demonstrated the urgent need to strengthen Ukrainian air defenses, arguing that protecting Ukraine also provides broader security for Europe.
Polish authorities did not immediately confirm that the object was a Russian missile. The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said an unidentified object traveling westward was detected in Polish airspace during the night, prompting the launch of an F-16 fighter jet to intercept and identify it.
The object disappeared from radar before it could be identified. A helicopter was sent to its last known position, where its crew found a possible impact site in an agricultural area of Poland’s Lublin province.
Polish officials had not confirmed what, if anything, struck the ground. Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled to the area Thursday morning to inspect the site.
The possible airspace violation came one day after Zelenskyy met with Tusk in Lublin to discuss defense matters. Any confirmed entry by a Russian missile into Polish territory could further increase tensions between Moscow and NATO, whose European members have expressed concern that the war could spread beyond Ukraine.
Russia’s attack also struck areas near the Polish border that are far from the principal battlefront. Ukraine is believed to manufacture and store military equipment in parts of western Ukraine, while its long-range drones and missiles have repeatedly targeted Russia’s oil industry and contributed to fuel shortages.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 258 Ukrainian drones overnight as Ukraine continued its own long-range campaign against targets inside Russia.
In Russia’s Penza region southeast of Moscow, a warehouse operated by online retailer Wildberries caught fire during a drone attack. One person was injured and 200 workers were evacuated, Penza Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said.
Wildberries also reported that a warehouse in Sarapul, in the Udmurtia region more than 1,000 kilometers, or about 600 miles, from Ukraine, was hit by a Ukrainian drone and set ablaze. The company said all employees were safely evacuated.
Russian online news outlet Astra reported that another Wildberries distribution center in the Perm region of the Ural Mountains was also set on fire during a Ukrainian drone attack. Regional officials confirmed that drones had struck the area but did not provide details about the damage.
Ukraine has accused Wildberries of supplying products that can be used by the Russian military.
Ukrainian drone forces also destroyed four additional vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of tankers used to evade sanctions, according to Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.
Brovdi said the latest attacks brought the number of vessels destroyed since the operation began July 6 to 205.
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