Russia’s latest attack on Kyiv was exceptionally deadly – here is why
Burnt cars are seen outside an apartment block hit by Russian strike in the Pecherskyi district of Kyiv on July 2.
Kyiv (CNN) — A ferocious Russian attack on Kyiv Thursday killed at least 30 people, making it the third deadliest assault against the Ukrainian capital since the start of the war.
Ukraine has endured hundreds of large-scale aerial attacks, but the assault this week was exceptionally lethal, in part because of the targets Moscow chose – residential buildings – and the weapons it used, including ballistic missiles, loitering munitions and jet-powered drones.
Jet-powered drones like the Geran-4 UAV are a relatively new addition to Russia’s arsenal, having been first spotted around the start of the year.
They can fly at speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour (310 miles per hour), evading Ukraine’s defenses. They are also too fast for Kyiv’s mobile fire groups and can only be shot down with ground-to-air missiles or fighter jets.
“The enemy is using them more and more frequently, and the percentage of jet-powered Shaheds in their arsenal is increasing; which depletes (our) resources,” Yurii Ihnat, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson said Friday. Having to use missiles against drones puts extra strain on Ukraine’s already stretched supplies.
Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitor, said that Russia’s use of jet-powered drones is yet another example of Moscow using tactical and technological innovations in drone systems to “maximize civilian harm during strikes on Ukraine.”
“Faster-moving drones that are harder for Ukraine to intercept will likely generate increased civilian harm, much as other strike package adaptations have in the past,” ISW said in a note published Thursday.
Ihnat said that Russia’s attack on Thursday was also unique because 28 of the 77 missiles it deployed were ballistic missiles, which he said was a “very, very high number.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Friday that more than 90% of cruise missiles and 90% of Shahed-type strike drones were intercepted during the attack.
Among the missiles launched by Russia on Thursday was the Zircon, an anti-ship and land-attack hypersonic cruise missile, Ihnat said. “It flies like a ballistic missile at a very high speed, and only the Patriot system can intercept such a missile,” he said.
Intercepting ballistic missiles remains a major challenge because, while Ukraine does have several Patriot batteries, it is facing a persistent shortage of missiles for them. This squeeze has been made worse by the conflict in Iran, which caused some deliveries initially meant for Ukraine to be diverted to the Middle East.
The defense ministry said on Friday that, while it has contracts in place to get new supplies of hundreds of these missiles in the future, it is facing an urgent shortage now.
The ministry said it sent letters to nearly 40 countries asking them to provide them with Patriot missiles from their existing stocks as soon as possible. It said this would be “in exchange for future deliveries already contracted for Ukraine.”
The ISW said it is likely that Russia was preparing Thursday’s attack for some time, stockpiling drones and missiles for it in June. Having conducted on average one massive strike and several smaller attacks against Ukraine every week between January and May, Moscow only launched two bigger assaults against Ukraine in June.
Russia has managed to ramp up its drone production and is capable of producing thousands of units every month, making it possible to launch large scale attacks every couple of days.
“Russian forces may be stockpiling drones, particularly for a higher frequency of large-scale strikes at a later time of the Kremlin’s choosing, especially if Russia believes it can further exhaust Ukrainian air defenses,” the ISW said in its note.
Residential buildings targeted
Kyiv authorities said some 25 sites across the capital were struck, large proportions of which were in residential areas. That likely contributed to the exceptionally high death toll. One Russian missile destroyed a residential building of 64 apartments, killing several people and leaving dozens of families homeless.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Thursday that the attack against Kyiv was a retaliation and targeted “military-industrial facilities and fuel and energy complex sites” in Kyiv – a statement contradicted by the fact that civilian objects were extensively damaged.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the attack damaged more than 130 residential buildings and accused Russia of striking civilian infrastructure “every day and every night.”
“Terror is the only argument they have left for not stopping the war,” he said.
Search and rescue operations continued well into Friday, with several people still missing, including the parents of a 10-year-old boy who was rescued on Thursday.
Yet the death toll could have been much worse had it not been for a warning issued by Kyiv authorities late on Wednesday. Ukrainian intelligence warned about an imminent assault and Zelensky begged residents to be “especially careful” and not ignore air-raid sirens, which prompted tens of thousands of people to seek shelter.
Kyiv Metro said some 52,500 people, including 4,500 children, spent the night sheltering in the capital’s subway stations.
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