Russian drone and cruise missile attacks kill at least six in Ukraine
He said that the two people died because of falling debris from a drone.
A drone attack in Ukraine's western Lviv region wounded nine people, regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.
Three people were wounded in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine when the city was hit by eight drones and two missiles, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Russia fired 597 drones and decoys, with 26 cruise missiles, into Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said.
Of these, 319 drones and 25 cruise missiles were shot down and 258 decoy drones were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
Two people were killed on Saturday in a missile strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional governor Serhii Lysak.
Two other people were killed on Saturday in the Sumy region by a Russian guided bomb, officials said.
Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Earlier this week, Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks and targeting Lutsk near the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid.
Poland's air force scrambled fighter jets in areas bordering Ukraine, Polish officials said.
Russia's intensifying long-range attacks have coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 620-mile front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure.
Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 33 Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
25 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
West will have to defeat ENTIRE Axis of Evil if they want to end Putin's reign of terror, warns top US ex-general
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WESTERN nations must change their attitude to Russia and crush the war machine fuelling Vladimir Putin's aggression, an ex-army commander warns. Rogue states such as Iran supply the tyrant with missiles and drones to unleash hell on Ukraine - propping up Russia's "not so great" army, US General Ben Hodges told The Sun. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Vladimir Putin is propped up by his allies Credit: Reuters 7 Russia continues to threaten the West Credit: AFP 7 Putin shaking hands with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un Credit: AP Now retired, he told The Sun: "If you want to defeat somebody, you have to knock out whatever it is that keeps the other side in the fight." He warned that if the West fails to take the threat from bloodthirsty Vlad more seriously, Europe will be dealing with war "forever". Russia has continued to rain down misery on Ukraine for more than three years - raising questions over how Moscow hasn't depleted its ammunition stocks. It comes as Putin is hammering Ukraine with almost 1,000 kamikaze drones a missiles each day - overwhelming defence systems. READ MORE ON RUSSIA WAR FEARS UK faces war with Russia within next five years, warns ex head of British Army Dozens of innocents are being injured or killed as apartment buildings are mercilessly bombed and civilians terrorised. Putin ordered his troops over the border in February 2022 and the US military estimated that, without help, Moscow would have run out of firepower by that December. North Korea is widely believed to have supplied Russia with missiles and shells, while Iran has bolstered Putin's stockpile with drones and rockets. China - Moscow's biggest and richest ally - is suspected of equipping Vlad with "dual-use" components, which are used to make weapons. Hodges, who was in charge of American forces in Europe, has urged the West to go after ??????????? He also believes Putin focuses on civilian areas instead of military targets because "the great Russian army and the great Russian air force and the great Russian navy are not so great". Bloodthirsty Putin hits Ukraine with almost 1,000 missiles a DAY as he faces his biggest dilemma yet "I mean they have demonstrated after 11 years they cannot defeat Ukraine," Hodges added. "The only thing they can do is murder innocent people. So that's what they're doing. "Hundreds of drones and missiles and rockets every week, which they get from Iran, North Korea and China, because they can't even produce all that they need anymore. "So I think we know from history that going after the population almost never works. "It didn't work in the Second World War, it didn't work for us against the Vietnamese, it didn't work for us against the Taliban." Putin arrogantly assumed he could sweep in and seize Kyiv in a matter of days after ordering his troops over the border into Ukraine. But more than three years on, the red-faced despot has suffered huge losses on the battlefield. 7 Xi Jinpping attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow Credit: EPA 7 Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Credit: EPA 7 Smoke and fire rise during a Russian strike on Kyiv Credit: Reuters More than 10,000 tanks, 22,000 armoured vehicles, 26,000 artillery systems, and over 700 aircraft have been destroyed, officials estimate. And the casualty numbers are far grimmer. Western officials have revealed that the Russians have sustained more than 900,000 casualties, with 250,000 dead, since Putin unleashed his illegal war. Despite this, the megalomaniac has pushed forward - continuing to throw wave after wave of troops into the meatgrinder. Putin has found his stocks of weapons backfilled by his allies - such as receiving drones from Iran. And meanwhile, Kim has sent tens of thousands of troops to Russia to serve alongside Vlad's men. A small number of Chinese troops have also allegedly been found serving in Ukraine. But Beijing has strongly denied accusations from Ukraine that they supplying Putin with weapons. Russia now is planning to try and unleash 1,000 drones per day on Ukraine as the war marches on - much to the fury of the US. 7 Hodges warned Western nations must instead focus on eliminating the threat from Axis of Evil countries - ultimately diminishing Putin's capabilities. The former military chief said it could see Europe grappling with endless bloodshed if not. He said: "Europe should be more serious and try to crush them, crush that regime, use all of our economic tools and also help Ukraine be successful to defeat Russia. "The only way Russia ever changes is after defeat. And if they're not defeated, then after Putin will be another Putin. "So we're going to be dealing with this forever unless we get serious about defending everything that we say is important. "And we should quit being so scared of what the Russians might do. The Russians should be worrying what the hell we're going to do." Axis of Evil 'supplying Russia with weapons' Iran Iran last year transferred close-range ballistic missiles to Russia in a move condemned by the UK's government and allies. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Iran supplying Russia with ballistic missiles to fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine is a significant and dangerous escalation." Initial claims of Iranian weapons being sent to Russia emerged in late 2022. US military intelligence at the time indicated Tehran was preparing to supply Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar rockets to Moscow. Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Iran in September 2023 - and reviewed Tehran's missile arsenal during the trip. North Korea Kim Jong-un vowed to "support" Putin's "sacred fight" to defend Russia's security interests when the North Korean tyrant visited Moscow in 2023 He vowed the two countries would "be together in the fight against imperialism". North Korea has been accused of supplying missiles and shells to Moscow. In April, Volodymyr Zelensky said a missile that killed 12 people in Kyiv had been manufactured in North Korea. The US has imposed sanctions on several entities accused of being linked to arms deals between the two states. Pyongyang has previously denied having any "arms dealings" with Russia. China China has been accused of supplying crucial materials and equipment to at least 20 Russian military factories. Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Kyiv's foreign intelligence service, said in April: "There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defence manufacturing industries. "We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories." Nato leaders jointly accused Beijing of being a "critical enabler" of Russia by providing "massive support to its defence industry". They claimed China sends "dual-use" components to Moscow such as computer chips that can be used to make weapons. Beijing has denied supplying Russia. Hodges predicts Putin, 72, will stay at the helm of the Kremlin for at least another decade - only taking into account his health. But at some point, the oligarchs around him - who lost enormous fortunes through war sanctions - could snap and force him out, Hodges said. He said: "From a health standpoint, Putin's around for another ten years. "Usually dictators don't have a retirement plan because there are so many people that want to kill them. So that's why they stay in power until the very end. "So I think we should assume he's going to be there, if it's just health, for at least another ten years. "But if enough people finally got mad about how he was ruining Russia's economic standing, that would be different."
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
How the Trump-Putin bromance flowered
"We get a lot of b**shit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters on July 9, summing up what Ukrainians and other seasoned Russia watchers have been saying for two decades. "He's very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Here's how the Trump-Putin geopolitical love affair turned sour. Trump and Putin got off to a good start Trump initiated direct talks with Putin shortly after taking office, saying - much to Putin's delight - that he was effectively ready to let Russia keep the Ukrainian territory it had already taken when Moscow invaded Kyiv in February 2022. Trump also said that Ukraine's Crimea region, which Putin seized in 2014, "will stay with Russia." At the same time, Trump said he was not interested in spending more on Ukraine's defense, an issue that exploded out into the open when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House in February. "You don't have the cards right now," Trump told Zelensky in remarks that were carried live on TV and appeared to belittle Ukraine's leader. Trump said Putin had been the victim of a "phony" American "witch hunt." He said Ukraine would need to make concessions and started pressing Kyiv to sign an agreement over its mineral wealth. 'My favorite president': Donald Trump and the art of world leader bromances Putin escalates Ukraine attacks American intelligence agencies and officials have for years struggled to understand Putin's precise foreign policy goals. In Ukraine, their best guess is he wants to weaken it as much as possible as part of an effort to keep it out of the NATO military alliance and retain or restore Russia's cultural and economic sphere of influence around its borders. That means grabbing Ukraine's land and wearing down the morale of its people and communities through wave after wave of drone and missile attacks that have killed thousands of civilians, according to the United Nations. War crimes in Ukraine: Kyiv's push for swift justice What Putin has made clear, at least in the timeframe that he's renewed talks with the White House, is that he's still intent on pounding Ukraine to deadly effect. In fact, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, Russia's drone and missile strikes on Ukraine have increased following Trump's January inauguration. It has appeared to take Trump some time to publicly acknowledge this. But he did eventually, saying in April, "I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!" One Ukrainian who lives in Kyiv said in a WhatsApp message that he, his wife and kids are "going completely mad" with having to repeatedly run to bomb shelters, metro stations and underground parking garages to seek shelter at a rate they have not had to do since the start of the 3.5-year-old war. An evolving policy to meet an evolving relationship Trump has spent years praising and appearing to carefully avoid criticizing Putin. The origins of this admiration are not well understood. Both men say they first met face-to-face on the sidelines of a 2017 international summit in Germany during Trump's first term. But Trump has also gone on the record saying that he met Putin for the first time in 2013 on a visit to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant. Whatever the case, five months ago, Trump said that he knows Putin "very well" and believes he "wants peace" in Ukraine. Still, two rounds of Trump-brokered, indirect ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia have come to nothing. And after multiple phone calls with Putin since taking office, Trump now appears to be shifting his thinking - and actions - on Putin and Russia. After a brief pause, he's ordered the Pentagon to restart shipping weapons to Ukraine. The White House is ramping up pressure on European countries to pitch in more to support the air defense supplies that Ukraine most needs. Some countries have complied in recent days. Momentum is building for bipartisan legislation that would impose severe sanctions on Russia - amounting to a 500% tariff - on any country that buys, sells or supplies Russian oil, gas and petroleum if Russia refuses to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said that the bill could be ready for a vote as soon as this month. "We need a Russia sanctions bill that puts some real constraints on the ability of the president to play on again, off again, with Vladimir Putin," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in an interview. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on July 10 in Malaysia that Moscow had presented a "new concept" that could open the door to peace during a meeting he had with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Rubio said they shared some ideas and information that he would take back to Trump. Trump, for his part, has teased a "major" statement on Russia early next week. Is the bromance finally over? Did it ever really start? Putin is a former KGB officer who has long trafficked in misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and outright lies. Trump often makes false or misleading claims in his speeches and social media posts. "Trump," former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Bill Taylor said in a media appearance this week, "has now figured it out that Putin is the problem."
Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
Why John Swinney needs to pander to Donald Trump just like Keir Starmer
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... How political leaders should deal with Donald Trump will be the subject of much head-scratching in the corridors of power worldwide. But it basically comes down to this: fake smiles and bonhomie, accompanied by bucket-loads of overly lavish praise. At least in public. Too much in private and he'll probably think you're weak. Better to operate on his level and try to cut some kind of deal. He might even see you as a kindred spirit. Perish the thought. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The US President's many character flaws are well known, and his refusal to accept the result of the 2020 US election, his incitement of the angry mob that attacked the US Capitol, and his refusal to rule out taking Greenland from Nato ally Denmark by force demonstrate an alarming attitude towards democracy. READ MORE: Why UK needs to pander to Trump but should not necessarily believe him There is much at stake for Scotland's businesses in his dealings with politicians like John Swinney (Picture: Joe Raedle) | Getty Images Trump's attitude changing over Ukraine? Furthermore, his imposition of swingeing new tariffs on most countries could also be viewed as economic warfare against the democratic world at a time when it is trying to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian despot Vladimir Putin's actual warfare. However Trump's attitude towards that conflict is hopefully changing to one more supportive of Kyiv, and the most important role of other Western leaders is to encourage him to do more to help defeat Putin and less to damage their economies. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After Trump treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disgracefully in the White House, John Swinney suggested his UK state visit should be cancelled. He may have had right on his side, but it was a diplomatic mistake. Keir Starmer is obviously no Trump fan but he has been doing everything he can to placate Trump for the simple reason that it is in the national interest. Swinney needs to swallow his pride and do much the same in the interests of Scottish businesses struggling to cope with Trump's tariffs. Given his mother was Scottish and he likes to call this country 'home', we might be able to get special treatment.
