Russian Missile Strike Kills 10 Civilians In Pechenihy As Ukraine Fires Nearly 800 Drones

Drones and missiles trade

Ukrainian forces staged one of their biggest drone attacks on Russia since Moscow's invasion more than four years ago, firing almost 800 drones and launching 791 Ukrainian drones over a number of Russian regions, as a Russian missile strike on the village of Pechenihy in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed 10 civilians and wounded eight others. The AP reported that Zelenskyy said Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, where a company said seven workers at its steel plant were killed and 21 injured. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 600 Ukrainian drones flew toward the Moscow region, where 180 were shot down, and the Defense Ministry in Moscow said air defenses intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the Black and the Azov seas.

In Kyiv, the State Emergency Service said a Russian strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, leaving two craters and shattering windows, and it said children and medical workers were in bomb shelters and nobody was hurt. The ABC News report said Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin told it Ukraine launched at least 637 drones in the direction of the Russian capital from Monday night into Tuesday morning, with at least 197 shot down by Russian air defenses over the capital region.

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Zelenskyy, Putin, and allies

Zelenskyy condemned the Pechenihy strike as “a brutal attack” that damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, and he said, “We will definitely respond to this Russian strike.”

In a post on X, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, “Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” as the AP described Russia’s attacks continuing with missiles, drones and glide bombs.

The UK Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it won’t budge from its military support for Kyiv after Russia said Ukraine’s reported use of British drones would bring unidentified consequences for London, and a British defense spokesperson said, “Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion.”

The ABC News report said Zelenskyy wrote on social media that he met with military leaders and discussed “the progress of long-range operations during the first half of August,” and he said Ukraine confirmed priorities for deep strikes in the coming weeks and in September.

The AP also reported that Russia’s highest court ordered that Yabloko, the only political party opposing the war, be excluded from the ballot in the Sept. 18-20 parliamentary election, as the Institute for the Study of War said the Kremlin would not enter serious negotiations or make meaningful compromises on its demands.

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What’s at stake next

The AP said Ukraine’s air force didn’t say in its daily report how many missiles Russia launched overnight, while it reported that Russia struck “military industrial facilities and transport and logistics centers” in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia with “ground-based precision weapons,” and it said the Defense Ministry hit civilian storage facilities housing drones in Kyiv and a metallurgical plant in Zaporizhzhia. ABC News reported that Mosoblenergo said more than 5,000 customers and 46 “socially significant facilities” in the Moscow region were left without power after the latest round of Ukrainian strikes, and it said temporary flight restrictions were introduced at all four of Moscow's international airports. The AP described how Russia’s biggest e-commerce company Wildberries was hit again, with Wildberries saying its logistical facilities in the Voronezh region near the Ukrainian border came under attack and caught fire, and it added that the fire was extinguished and goods stored there were “largely” (as the report continued).

In Ukraine, the AP said the attack on Zaporizhzhia killed seven workers at its steel plant and injured 21, and it said Metinvest reported seven of its steel plant employees died as staff tried to reach shelters after a warning of an incoming ballistic missile. Al Jazeera reported that Zelenskyy warned Moscow was receiving more ballistic projectiles and troops from its ally Pyongyang, and it quoted him saying, “Every step Russia takes – increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation – all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation.”

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