KYIV: Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukraine on Saturday (Jul 11), killing six people and wounding dozens more, officials said, as Kyiv awaited supplies of air defence munitions amid a shortage that has left it exposed to Russian attacks.
Four people were killed and 17 wounded when two glide bombs hit a crowded area in the northern city of Sumy, authorities said. One of the bombs hit a bus stop, and pictures showed a destroyed yellow bus with one of its sides ripped off.
Two more people were killed and another was wounded earlier in the day by a missile strike on the southern port city of Odesa, while a drone hit a civilian enterprise in the eastern city of Kharkiv, wounding seven.
Eleven people, meanwhile, were wounded in the capital Kyiv during an overnight attack that used ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.
“Civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, referring to the attacks on Kyiv. “Our defenders managed to shoot down most of the targets, but not the ballistic ones.”
He reiterated a call for Ukraine’s allies to quickly deliver the support packages of air defences agreed at the NATO summit this week.
Russia launched six ballistic missiles, another six cruise missiles and 121 drones in the overnight attacks including against Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said on Saturday morning, before the strikes on Odesa, Kharkiv and Sumy took place. It said it downed at least two cruise missiles and 111 drones.
UKRAINE PLEADS FOR SUPPLIES FROM ALLIES
Ukraine, which is critically low on munitions for its Patriot air defence systems, has been largely unable to down ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound, over the past month.
It has pleaded with allies for greater supplies of those munitions and has also pushed Europe to work with Kyiv on its own anti-ballistic air defence system.
US President Donald Trump said this week that Ukraine will be granted a licence to produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles.
After Saturday’s attack, Zelenskyy called for those projects to move “as swiftly as possible”.
Russia has stepped up attacks on the capital in recent weeks. So far this month, strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region have killed more than 60 people.
