Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Russia fired a wave of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people, Ukrainian officials confirmed on Sunday, 12 July 2026, as the strikes came a day before Ukraine's allies were set to meet in Paris for talks on pressuring Moscow to end its more than four-year war. The attacks, which targeted multiple regions across the country, underscored the growing strain on Ukraine's air defence systems, which have struggled to counter Russia's increasing use of ultra-fast ballistic missiles.
Three people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, including two in a strike on an "industrial enterprise" in the city of Kryvyi Rig, according to regional officials. A separate drone attack on the southern city of Kherson killed a 48-year-old, mayor Yaroslav Shanko reported. The strikes came just a day after Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Saturday, 11 July, killing six people and wounding dozens more. In that attack, four people were killed and 17 wounded when two glide bombs hit a crowded area in the northern city of Sumy, with one of the bombs striking a bus stop and destroying a yellow bus. Two more people were killed in 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.
Ukraine's air defences have come under severe strain from repeated Russian ballistic missile strikes in recent weeks. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched more than 120 drones and 12 missiles during the night, half of them ballistic, and noted that "civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued." Ukraine's defenders managed to shoot down most of the targets, but not the ballistic ones, he said, repeating his plea for allies to send more military aid. The United States this week gave Ukraine permission to build US-designed Patriot air defence systems capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, but it may be months before they enter production. Zelensky has urged the United States to swiftly follow through on its pledge to license Ukraine to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles, but technical details still need to be agreed.
The attacks on Kyiv marked the second time in less than a week that missiles hit before an air alert was issued, raising concerns that Russia may be using S-400 anti-aircraft missiles to carry out strikes on the ground. Sergiy Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister, said such missiles are more difficult to detect by radar and that there is no military logic to such attacks, describing them as "simply terrorism for the sake of terrorism." Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it had struck "military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and seaport infrastructure in Odesa." Meanwhile, Ukraine has intensified its own strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, with drones hitting oil refineries in southern Russia on Friday and Kyiv's forces continuing to bombard Russian oil facilities, triggering a widespread fuel crisis with gasoline shortages and rationing in multiple regions. As the war grinds on, the toll on civilians continues to mount, with both sides locked in a deadly cycle of escalation that shows no signs of abating.
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