Kyiv, July 8: Russian drones and missiles killed four people across Ukraine on Wednesday in attacks before dawn and at midday, as Moscow kept up its pressure on the capital of Kyiv in the latest phase of the over 4-year-old war.
Ukraine struck oil refineries in Russia’s Saratov and Tatarstan regions, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in Turkiye to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Answering reporters’ questions with Zelenskyy, Trump said the US would give licenses so that Patriot air defence systems can be made overseas for Ukraine to counter Russia.
Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his support and said Kyiv wanted to discuss weapons supplies, possible peace negotiations and a developing drone deal.
“Air defence is the priority,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv wanted to share details of its needs under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, in which European allies and Canada are buying American weapons to help his country.
Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian and US officials had begun work on a drone deal, calling it “a very good beginning.”
Russia attacks Kyiv, hours apart
In Kyiv, several explosions were heard shortly after midnight, even before authorities could issue an air raid alert to give civilians time to find shelter.
The early morning Russian attacks killed one woman and injured two others in Kyiv, according to city administration head Tymur Tkachenko. The State Emergency Service said the attack damaged several administrative buildings and warehouses, as well as a garage complex and several trams.
Hours later, another Russian drone struck Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, killing a second person and injuring six others, Tkachenko said. A total of eight people were injured in the Russian attacks on the capital.
In Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
In Zaporizhzhia, Russian guided bomb injured a man and a woman Tuesday night, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s air force says Russia fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles. Air defences shot down or jammed 139 drones, and two anti-radar missiles didn’t reach their targets, it said.
All five ballistic missiles and 20 drones struck targets at 15 locations, the air force said, underscoring the continued strain on Ukraine’s air defences.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it struck an arms industry facilities in Kyiv, hitting a plant that manufactured components for Flamingo cruise missiles and a facility assembling mid- and long-range drones.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil and gas facilities
The ministry also said air defences downed 415 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday to early Wednesday. Gov Roman Busargin of Russia’s Saratov region said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, injured several others and damaged unspecified industrial facilities.
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian long-range attacks reached the Saratov, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan regions deep inside Russia, as well as the Voronezh region, closer to the Ukrainian border.
The strikes hit refineries in Saratov and Tatarstan, the latest energy facilities struck by Ukraine that have worsened fuel shortages across Russia.
In the Tatarstan region, Nizhhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said Ukrainian drones damaged industrial facilities in the city and injured several people. Belyayev didn’t identify the damaged facilities.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed head of the Crimean Peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, said restrictions on civilian fuel sales would continue and that gasoline would not be available “on certain days.”
Aksyonov said many of the decisions being made to resolve the crisis could not be disclosed publicly, adding that he was giving regular updates to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The fuel supply situation remains strained and will continue to be so for some time,” he said. “We are monitoring this issue closely in coordination with the federal government and are working on a solution.”
Russia’s Gazprom state-controlled gas company said Ukrainian drones attacked the Krasnodarskaya compressor station serving the Blue Stream natural gas pipeline to Turkiye late Tuesday. It said the attack was intended to derail Russian gas shipments to Turkiye, but there was no disruption of supplies. (AP)
