5 killed, 39 injured as Russia launches 700 drones, missiles in Ukraine
July 9 (UPI) -- At least five people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia launched its largest aerial assault of the war, firing 741 drones and missiles against targets all across the country, including Kyiv and provinces in the far west.
The Ukraine Air Force said in a post on its official social media account that air defenses shot down or jammed most of the 728 drones and 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, however some reached their marks.
The city of Lutsk took the brunt of the attack in the west but the largest loss of life was in the east in the frontline province of Donetsk where three civilians were killed and 11 injured, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said Wednesday in an update on social media.
In part-Russian-occupied Kherson one person was killed and 17 injured in strikes on settlements across the parts of the province still under Ukrainian control, including Kherson city, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin.
Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a post on his Telegram account that at least one person had been killed and four injured in strikes on Kharkiv city and surrounding settlements, while Zaporizhzhia Gov. Ivan Federal reported hundreds of incidents with at least five civilians injured.
Kyiv, where more than 40 people have been killed since Russian forces turned the focus of its air campaign on the capital in mid-June, came under heavy attack overnight with explosions heard starting at about midnight. One person was injured in a drone strike in an eastern outer suburb.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said damage had also been reported in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions but hailed the effectiveness of air defenses, including new home-grown defensive systems.
"Our interceptor drones were used -- dozens of enemy targets were downed, and we are scaling up this technology. Mobile fire groups were also active -- they downed dozens as well. I thank all our warriors for their precision. At the moment, efforts are ongoing across many regions of Ukraine to eliminate the consequences of last night's Russian attack," he said in post on X.
Calling the attacks "telling" given extensive recent efforts to negotiate a cease-fire by Ukraine's western partners, Zelensky called for more sanctions on Moscow, particularly targeting the oil exports he said funded its "war machine."
"This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions -- biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow's war machine with money for over three years of the war. Secondary sanctions on those who buy this oil and thereby sponsor killings. Everyone who wants peace must act," he said.
The airborne assault on Ukraine overnight came as U.S. President Donald Trump reversed a temporary pause on shipments of some weapons to Ukraine, including missiles for Ukraine's Patriot air defense batteries, key to protecting Ukraine from Russian missile and drone strikes.
Trump has expressed growing impatience after Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukraine following a two-hour phone he held with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, his sixth with the Russian leader, complaining that no progress had been made.
"We want to put defensive weapons [in Ukraine] because Putin is not ... treating human beings right. He's killing too many people, so we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine," Trump said Tuesday at a meeting of his cabinet.
"We get a lot of bulls--- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," added Trump.
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