Putin Orders Major Drone Strike on Ukraine

In a significant escalation, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed Ukraine’s largest drone strike in a month on Monday evening.

This occurred concurrently with a meeting at the White House where former President Trump praised progress towards resolving the conflict in Ukraine, involving discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. Moscow deployed 270 drones along with 10 missiles against its war-ravaged neighbor.

The aftermath of a similar attack prior to the meeting resulted in at least 14 civilian deaths, and over 50 individuals sustained injuries.

The Ukrainian government reported that one of the families killed included two children aged just one and 15. They were inside their home in Kalkiv, approximately 15 miles from the Russian border, when the explosion occurred in the dead of night.

“It was just a regular apartment block… families with young children, a play area, just homes,” a neighbor, Olena Yaksheva, shared her emotional response with reporters.

The recent assault has contributed to a grim tally of nearly 13,000 civilian fatalities since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, including 569 children, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office.

For perspective, that number exceeds the civilian casualties from the September 11 attacks by more than four times.

Andri Yarmack, a senior advisor to Zelensky, remarked, “Several children have been killed. It’s ironic that [Putin] made commitments to Trump about peace.” He described Putin as deceitful in his intentions.

Trump had previously expressed frustration over the timing of Russia’s airstrike so soon after Putin allegedly conveyed a wish for peace, but he had not commented specifically on the latest incident.

Looking back, Trump remarked, “I’ll tell the First Lady. She said, ‘Yeah, another city really hit,'” reflecting on the ongoing turmoil in Ukraine.

About a month prior marked the deadliest period since the onset of Putin’s full-scale war against Ukraine three and a half years ago. Official data indicated that July alone saw 286 civilian deaths, with a total of 1,388 fatalities reported.

In July, Russia also set a new high, launching a record 728 drones in a single night, surpassing the previous maximum of 337 in March.

The United Nations noted that approximately 60% of civilian casualties occur in communities located along the frontlines, while the remaining 40% happen further from the conflict’s epicenter, including in the capital, Kyiv.