KYIV: Russia attacked cities across Ukraine overnight with hundreds of drones and a missile strike, hitting energy infrastructure and wounding at least 15 people, authorities said on Wednesday (Jul 16).
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 400 drones and one ballistic missile, primarily targeting Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia – three cities in different parts of Ukraine.
The large-scale long-range attacks targeted energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.
Power was cut for 80,000 families in Kryvyi Rih and other locations in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said on the Telegram app.
The air force said it had shot down most of the drones, but that 12 targets were hit by 57 drones and the missile.
Russia has stepped up attacks on cities across Ukraine this summer, regularly sending several hundred drones accompanied by ballistic missiles. The attacks were cited by US President Donald Trump this week as a reason for his decision to approve more weapons for Ukraine, including air defences.
“Russia does not change its strategy, and to effectively counter this terror we need a systemic strengthening of defences – more air defences, more interceptor (drones), more determination to make Russia feel our response,” Zelenskyy wrote.
In Vinnytsia and the surrounding region, eight people were wounded, according to Ukraine’s interior ministry.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X that drones had hit a factory of the Polish wood flooring producer Barlinek Group in Vinnytsia, which is in the western part of central Ukraine.
“The plant manager told me just now that it was deliberate, from three directions … Putin’s criminal war is getting closer to our borders,” he added.
