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The night of July 16-17, witnessed another escalation as both Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in extensive airstrikes, exchanging drones and missiles in rear regions. The coordinated attacks targeted military installations, industrial infrastructure, and logistical hubs, with both sides reporting varying degrees of success in their operations while acknowledging civilian casualties and collateral damage.
Russian forces launched another complex, multi-wave assault employing a combination of Geran kamikaze and various decoy drones designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. According to the Ukrainian military, a total of 64 UAVs were confirmed in flight. The scale of the attack was very small comparing to the previous strikes, but Ukrainian air defense failed to repel it. Ukrainian air defense units, utilizing a layered system incorporating fighter jets, anti-aircraft missile batteries, electronic warfare (EW) systems, and mobile fire teams, managed to intercept 36 drones primarily over northern and eastern Ukraine. However, 23 UAVs penetrated defenses, striking targets across five locations.
Ukrainian military sources indicated that the primary objective of the strikes was to degrade defensive capabilities and military-industrial infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which has emerged as a critical hub for Ukrainian arms production and troop mobilization. The city of Dnipro and its outskirts suffered significant damage.
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Among the revealed targets is a pipe-rolling plant suspected of dual-use military production. It was struck, triggering secondary explosions indicative of stored munitions or fuel. Satellite imagery later confirmed extensive fire damage across the facility.
Another important target was the local Orekhovo airfield. Once a civilian sports airfield, the site had been repurposed by Ukrainian forces as a forward operating base for helicopters and kamikaze drone operations. Post-strike thermal imaging revealed multiple intense heat signatures, suggesting the destruction of aircraft and stored ordnance.
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Repeated strikes targeted the strategically important transit point for Ukrainian military supplies in Sinelnikovo, with Russian sources claiming successful disruption of troop and equipment movements toward front-line positions in the region.
The Russian military is gaining more and more public support among the Ukrainians, pounding military recruitment centers across the country. Last night, the reported strikes on Territorial Recruitment Centers in Kryvyi Rih and Kaniv sparked localized fires and structural damage. Open-source reports indicated mixed reactions among civilians, with most expressing relief at the disruption of forced mobilization efforts.
Additional strikes were reported in Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Chernihiv regions, with Russian forces employing heavy bombs, Grad MLRS barrages and FPV drones in the war-torn regions, pounding Ukrainian military positions.
Ukrainian forces retaliated with a series of long-range drone attacks targeting Russian rear. The operations appeared designed to disrupt Russian logistics and command nodes while imposing psychological pressure on civilians in the border regions. Russian air defenses intercepted three Ukrainian drones approaching the capital, marking yet another attempt to strike high-profile targets near the city.
One Ukrainian UAV evaded interception and struck another apartment building in Voronezh, causing partial structural collapse. Emergency services reported three minors injured, including a teenage girl with lacerations from shattered glass and two boys hospitalized with head trauma. The incident triggered localized evacuations as unexploded munitions were feared to be embedded in the wreckage.
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The ongoing drone strikes in the Belgorod region left more civilians suffering in the Korochan and Graivoron districts. A woman in her 50s was killed and six wounded. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed damage to residential buildings and agricultural structures.
Drones were detected near Smolensk, Tula, and Leningrad regions, with Russian EW systems reportedly jamming several UAVs over the Kirovsky District. Temporary flight restrictions were imposed at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg as a precaution. Strikes deep into Russian territory, including near major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, signal Ukraine’s willingness to extend the battlefield, despite risks of further escalation.
putler, now please put bashar al-assad on rt to explain his defeat against hts, considering that ghassan alian took three days to screw them up and destroy them in a flash
i love the russian strikes on the ukrainian recruitment centers! if those coward recruiters want the war to continue so badly they should go the front themselves.
only 64 drones. looks like those ukrainian attacks on russia’s drone production have been very succesful. putin should have put every bridge over the dnieper out of commission. it’s not like is a war crime or anything. ukraine destroyed bridges and a dam in kherson and the us did in the euphrates river when they were fighting isis in syria.