Putin: “Russia won’t back down” in Ukraine
The US recently said it would suspend weapon delivery to Ukraine as the Pentagon has reviewed its ammunition stockpile.
Kiev, July 4 (Reuters) – Russia has launched its biggest drone attack on Russia after President Donald Trump spoke to Russian Vladimir Putin, killing at least 23 people, wounding at least 23 people and damaging buildings in the capital, authorities said Friday.
As Russia began what the Ukrainian Air Force said there were 539 drones and 11 missiles, the cries of Kamikazedoro, echoing from evening to dawn, echoing from the evening to dawn.
A family hangs out in the city centre at the subway station for a shelter. The chief of Kiev’s junta said the body was found on Friday afternoon in one of the strike sites.
Outside the block of a high-rise apartment damaged by the drone, residents were standing investigating the scene as the cleanup job began. Some cried. Others looked quietly.
“I was woken up to the sound of an explosion. The explosion began to begin after the Shahed drone first began to get bustling,” said 40-year-old resident Maria Hirchenko.
“Then people started screaming outside. The explosions from Shahede continued to come.” Shahed Drones are Iranian-designed and are now manufactured in Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the attack “deliberately huge and cynical,” and the first sirens rang out when news of Putin and Trump called out.
Later on Friday, Zelensky spoke to Trump, and the pair agreed to work to improve Kiev’s ability to “protect the sky.” He added that they discussed production and joint purchases and investments of joint defense. The US has suspended missile delivery amid concerns over low stockpile.
Kyiv officials said the attack damaged around 40 apartment blocks, passenger rail infrastructure, five schools, kindergartens, cafes and many cars in six of Kyiv’s 10 districts. Poland said the embassy’s consular department was damaged in central Kiev and staff were unharmed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibikha said that Chinese components were found in one of the Shahedodros attacking Kiev, adding that the Chinese consulate in the southern part of Odesa was found shortly after another strike suffered minor damage.
“How ironic,” Sibiha wrote to X.
Kiev’s Russian airstrikes have intensified in recent weeks, including some of the war’s most lethal attacks on cities of 3 million.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said drone factories, military airfields and oil refineries were among the targets they hit in Kiev with what they called high-precision weapons. Ukraine did not provide details of targets of military value.
Please seek sanctions
Trump said Thursday’s call with Putin had no progress in efforts to end the war, and the Kremlin reiterated that Moscow would continue to push to resolve the “root cause” of the conflict.
Washington’s decision to halt the shipment of some of its important weapons to Ukraine prompted a warning from Kiev that the move would undermine its ability to prevent airstrikes and battlefield progress. Germany said it is in discussions about purchasing a Patriot air defense system to close the gap.
On Friday, Zelenskiy urged Moscow to change “silly and destructive behavior.”
“For all of that strikes on people and human lives, they must feel the proper sanctions and other blows on their economy, their income, and their infrastructure,” he said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed the 478 air weapons that Russia had launched overnight. The airstrikes were recorded in eight locations, with nine missiles and 63 drones.
Social media videos show people running to find shelter, firefighters, fighting the flames in the dark, ruining the building with windows and facades blown away.
Both sides denied targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched in February 2022 with a full-scale invasion. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, and the majority of them are Ukrainians. It is believed that more soldiers were killed on the frontline, but neither side releases military casualties figures.
Late Thursday, Russian artillery fires killed five people in and near Pokrovsk city in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine said.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Pavel Polityuk, Max Hunder, Valentyn Ogirenko, Sergiy Karazy, Frank Jack Daniel, Written by Ronald Popesky, Lydia Kelly, Frank Jack Daniel, Edited by Stephen Coates, Rajugo Para Arklishnan, Alexandra Hudson, Sharon Singunton)
