KYIV: A wave of heavy explosive strikes lit up the night sky across Ukraine on Tuesday. In a major win for the capital’s defense shield, Ukrainian forces managed to intercept and destroy five highly dangerous Russian ballistic missiles—the first time they have stopped weapons of this caliber in nearly two weeks.
Even with the successful interception, it was still a night of horror. At least one ballistic missile and 25 explosive drones managed to break through, striking 17 different locations. In Kyiv, falling debris and successful hits triggered massive blazes at two large warehouses and left a local school heavily damaged. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the attack successfully targeted factories making long-range Ukrainian drones.
The deadly escalation comes at a highly critical time. Air strikes have intensified all through July, with the UN reporting that civilian casualties have surged to their highest levels since 2022 due to the heavy use of powerful glide bombs and long-range weapons in crowded towns. Just hours before this attack, a Russian missile hit a foreign civilian vessel unloading cargo near the port of Odesa, tragically killing five sailors.
In response to the nightly bombardments, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Paris to seek immediate help from European allies. Ukraine has officially joined a new 10-country alliance to build a joint missile defense shield over Europe to protect their vulnerable power grids.
Meanwhile, Ukraine hit back hard on Tuesday morning, sending hundreds of drones deep into Russia to blow up major oil refineries in Krasnodar and Bashkortostan, attempting to choke off the fuel supplying the Russian army.
