Russia Attempting to Overwhelm Ukraine with Drone/Missile Strikes

"Russia continues to expand its domestic drone production capacity amid the ever-growing role of tactical drones in front-line combat operations and Russia's increasingly large nightly long-range strike packages against Ukraine."

Institute for the Study of War, Washington 

 

"Civilians across Ukraine are facing levels of suffering we have not seen in over three years."

"The surge in long-range missile and drone strikes across the country has brought even more death and destruction to civilians far away from the front line."

Danielle Bell, head, U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine 

People look at burning apartments in a high-rise residential building hit by Russian shelling on Thursday in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ivan Antypenko / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

 

According to the United Nations, 232 Ukrainians were killed in missile and drone bombardments during the month of June, and 1,343 were wounded, representing the highest monthly civilian casualty toll in the war. Russian forces fired 5,681 drones and missiles in June, the most numerous since Russia's fullscale 'special military operation' launched in February of 2022. This was an aerial assault comprised of 5,438 drones, and 243 missiles, figures provided by the Institute for the Study of War.

An increasing number of decoy drones have been sent into Ukraine, with Russia seeking to overwhelm Ukraine's air defences. Over 700 attack and decoy drones were fired at Ukraine on Thursday, easily exceeding in number previous nightly barrages, the third time in two weeks. Disrupting Ukraine's vital supply of Western weapons appears to be the motivation.

The hardest hit overnight, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the city of Lutsk, where airfields are situated, used by the Ukrainian army. Lutsk lies close to the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a regional hub crucial for receiving foreign military aid. Increased uncertainty relating to the supply of critical American weapons appear to have factored in to U.S.-led peace efforts having stalled.

The Kremlin, stated President Zelenskyy was "making a point". According to the Russian Defence Ministry, its forces took aim at Ukrainian airbases, and "all the designated targets have been hit". For its part, Ukraine fired drones into Russia overnight in the Kursk border region. The Russian attack included 728 drones and 13 missiles, representing the largest number of drones fired in a single night during the war, thus far.

Kharkiv is among the cities that face regular drone and missile bombardments.  (AP: Andrii Marienko)

Ten regions beyond Lutsk, were struck, including Khmelnytskyi and Kyiv regions. A member of NATO, Poland scrambled its fighter jets and put its armed forces on alert at the highest level, responding to the attack. Russia's larger army launched a new drive to punch through parts of the 1,000-kilometre front line, aiming at Ukrainian short-handed forces, under heavy strain to hold their positions.  

Mere days after Washington decided to pause critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv, President Trump turned about, stating that the U.S. would have to send more weapons to Ukraine. Trump, commented Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov "has quite a tough style in terms of the phrasing he uses". But Moscow hopes to "continue our dialogue with Washington and our course aimed at repairing the badly damaged bilateral ties".

 

296 drones and seven missiles were shot down by Ukraine's air defences during the overnight attack, and 415 additional drones were lost from radars or jammed, according to a Ukrainian air force statement. Developed to counter the Iran-supplied Shahed drones fired by Russia, Ukrainian interceptor drones are increasingly effective, stated Mr. Zelenskyy. 

 

Ukrainian domestic production of anti-aircraft drones is being scaled up, in partnership with some Western countries, while according to Western military analysts, Russia is also boosting its drone manufacturing and anticipates being capable shortly of launching 1,000 each night at Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine's own offensive drone threat has been able to reach deep into Russia with some long-range strikes.  

 

Rescuers at the site of an apartment building hit by Russian drone strike in Kyiv. (Reuters: Stringer)