Ukraine Hits Russian Bomber Base, 12 Ships in Massive Drone Blitz
Russia launched deadly strikes across Ukraine overnight, killing several people and wounding a child in Kyiv, while Ukraine hit back with a massive drone attack that struck 12 Russian ships and set a strategic bomber base on fire.
Russian missiles slammed into the Ukrainian capital on 16 July, killing two people and wounding five others, including a child [198002]. The attacks came without warning—explosions struck Kyiv before air raid sirens sounded, the second time in two weeks this has happened [198320]. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s air defense systems failed to intercept any of the ballistic missiles fired at the country [194694].
Ukraine retaliated by hitting 12 Russian vessels in the Black Sea with drone attacks [198667]. The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces said that over the past nine days, Ukraine had struck 116 vessels, including tankers and cargo ships, targeting Russia’s "shadow fleet" to limit fuel supplies to Moscow-controlled Crimea [196168].
A separate drone strike overnight sparked a fire at Russia’s Engels-2 airbase, a key facility housing strategic bombers that regularly launch cruise missile attacks on Ukraine. The attack used a drone similar to Russia’s own Shahed, a type of one-way attack aircraft. No casualties have been confirmed, and the extent of damage is unclear [198626].
Ukraine’s military also struck two Russian oil refineries in the Bashkortostan and Krasnodar regions, causing fires at the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat complex and the Afipsky oil refinery. Russian authorities confirmed both fires [196168].
In Russian-controlled Crimea, the city of Sevastopol is limiting power supplies after Ukrainian attacks. Local authorities said electricity will be supplied for two hours, followed by six-hour outages. Crimea has already restricted gasoline use due to fuel shortages from Ukrainian strikes on refineries [196168].
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down five out of eight Russian ballistic missiles and 108 out of 135 drones overnight Tuesday. President Zelenskyy said Russian attacks damaged 16 sites in Kyiv, including a school and a business, and injured seven people in the eastern Kharkiv region and three in the northern Chernihiv region [196168].