Russia Attacks Kyiv with Ballistic Missiles and Drones

Doc. impact of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine. (Twitter/@ZelenskyyUa)

Russia launched drone and ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv on Tuesday morning, the fifth attack on the Ukrainian capital this month as the two countries have been escalating their mutual attacks recently.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack damaged 16 locations in the capital, including a school and a business, while city officials reported several fires across the city.

"Last night, Russia launched 135 drones and 10 missiles of various types, mostly ballistic missiles, against our cities and communities," President Zelensky said in a post on X, Al Arabiya reported from Reuters (14/7).

"There must be greater pressure on Russia," he said, calling on European allies to approve their latest sanctions package this week.

"Russia is also targeting critical infrastructure in central and southern Ukraine," President Zelensky said, adding that the attacks injured seven people in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region and three people in the northern Chernihiv region.

This summer Russia has intensified its aerial assault on Ukraine, bombing cities and its energy infrastructure almost every night, while Kyiv is short of air defense munitions to fend off ballistic missiles.

The Ukrainian air force said its air defense units shot down five of eight ballistic missiles fired by Russia overnight - a higher interception rate than an attack earlier this month - and 108 of 135 drones.

On the other hand, Kyiv has stepped up drone attacks inside Russia, targeting weapons production sites and oil facilities in an effort to reduce Russia's economic ability to continue the war, which is now in its fifth year.

Russian authorities reported a fire at the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, and drone debris fell in an industrial area in Salavat in the Ural region of Bashkortostan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that Moscow would respond to Ukrainian attacks on its territory with a counterattack that would be "several times stronger" and would increase in scale.