Russia launches another record drone attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian
officials say
[July 09, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired a record 728 Shahed and decoy drones
at Ukraine overnight, as well as 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, the
Ukrainian air force said Wednesday, in the latest escalation after weeks
of mounting Russian aerial and ground attacks in the more than
three-year war.
The city of Lutsk, which lies in Ukraine’s northwest along the border
with Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions
were also struck, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Lutsk is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army. Cargo planes and
fighter jets routinely fly over the city. Western regions of Ukraine are
a crucial logistical backbone in the war, as airfields and depots there
receive vital foreign military aid before forwarding it to other parts
of the country. Russian long-range attacks have increasingly sought to
disrupt those supply corridors.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces took aim at Ukrainian
air bases and that “all the designated targets have been hit.”
Russia has recently tried to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses by
launching massive aerial assaults, including adding more decoy drones to
its attacks. Russia launched its previous largest aerial assault late in
the night of July 4 into the following day, with the biggest prior to
that occurring less than a week earlier.
Russia's bigger army has also launched a new drive to punch through
parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where short-handed
Ukrainian forces are under heavy strain.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s “not happy” with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hasn't budged from his ceasefire
and peace demands since Trump took office in January and began to push
for a settlement.
Trump said Monday that the U.S. would have to send more weapons to
Ukraine, just days after Washington paused critical weapons deliveries
to Kyiv amid uncertainty over the U.S. administration's commitment to
Ukraine's defense.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Trump “has quite a tough style
in terms of the phrasing he uses,” adding that Moscow hopes to “continue
our dialogue with Washington and our course aimed at repairing the badly
damaged bilateral ties.”
Zelenskyy said that the Kremlin was “making a point” with the overnight
attack on western parts of Ukraine, as U.S.-led peace efforts flounder.
He urged Ukraine’s partners to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil
and those who help finance the Kremlin’s war by buying it.
“Everyone who wants peace must act,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian
leader was due to meet Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a visit to
Italy.
Two people were wounded in the Kyiv region during the overnight barrage,
officials said, as emergency crews continued to assess the damage.
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In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a
firefighter puts out the fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv
region, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency
Service via AP)
Poland scrambled its fighter jets and put its armed forces on the
highest level of alert in response to Russia’s attack, the Polish
Armed Forces Operational Command wrote in an X post.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Tuesday that Russia
could pose a credible security threat to the European Union by the
end of the decade. She called for defense industries in Europe and
Ukraine to be ramped up within five years.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 296 drones and seven missiles
during the overnight attack, while 415 more drones were lost from
radars or jammed, an air force statement said.
Ukrainian interceptor drones, developed to counter Russia’s Shahed
drones, are increasingly effective, Zelenskyy said, noting that many
targets were intercepted and that domestic production of
anti-aircraft drones is being scaled up in partnership with some
Western countries.
Western military analysts say Russia is boosting its drone
manufacturing and could soon be capable of launching 1,000 drones a
night at Ukraine.
“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,” the Institute for the Study of War, a
Washington-based think tank, said late Tuesday.
Ukraine has also built up its own offensive drone threat, reaching
deep into Russia with some spectacular long-range strikes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that air defenses downed 86
Ukrainian drones over six Russian regions overnight, including the
Moscow region.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport
and the international airport of Kaluga, south of Moscow.
The governor of Russia’s Kursk border region, Alexander Khinshtein,
said that a Ukrainian drone attack on the region’s capital city just
before midnight killed three people and wounded seven others,
including a 5-year-old boy.
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