Russian drone attacks on Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia target military recruitment centers. Ukraine’s long-range drones attack an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region. Russia increases the share of Chinese-made parts inside Shahed drones to 65 per cent, Ukraine’s intelligence says.
Russian drone attacks on Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia target military recruitment centers
Russian drone strikes on the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia on Monday caused widespread destruction and damaged military recruitment centers.
In Kharkiv, apartment and administrative buildings, warehouses, shops, cars and the regional draft office were damaged in two waves of strikes, local and military officials said. At least 71 people, including seven children, were injured. One person died in hospital of wounds sustained in the attack.
Russian drones hit the building of the Kharkiv regional recruitment center and the surrounding area, Ukraine’s Ground Forces said in a post to Telegram. At least four people were injured there, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ground Forces, Colonel Vitaliy Sarantsev told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
A Russian drone attack on Zaporizhzhia damaged the campus and dormitories of the city’s Polytechnic University, apartment buildings, private homes, non-residential facilities and cars. Ukraine’s Ground Forces said the strike hit near the regional draft office. At least 20 people, including two personnel of the military recruitment center were injured, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said.
Ukraine’s long-range drones attack oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region
Ukrainian drones targeted the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Monday, Ukrainian media said, citing sources in the country’s defense intelligence. The agency’s long-range drones hit one of the workshops, the message reads.
The company is one of the key refining facilities in southern Russia. It stores and refines hydrocarbons, and ships finished products by truck and railcar service, the defense intelligence said.
The Ilsky refinery is part of the military-industrial complex of the aggressor state, directly involved in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, the agency added.
Russia increases share of Chinese-made parts inside Shahed drones to 65 per cent, Ukraine’s intelligence says
Responding to an inquiry from Donbas.Realiyi, Radio Liberty’s project, the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russia is increasingly replacing Western-made parts inside its attack drones with the Chinese ones.
In the Geran-2 drones (another name for the Shahed drone in Russia) discovered in May 2025, the share of parts that originate from China has increased to 60-65 per cent, pushing U.S.-made parts into the second place spot for the first time. Swiss electronics are the third-largest group, the defense intelligence said.
Russia is also replacing jamming-resistant antennas of the satellite navigation system with ones that are more resistant to jamming and have more antenna elements — 12 and 16 instead of four and eight accordingly.
“One of the innovations is the use of 3G modems in drones, which send information about their location and telemetry to a Telegram bot so that the enemy can analyze the location of our electronic warfare and air defense systems,” a representative of the defense intelligence, cited by the outlet, said.
He added that Russia is expanding the range of warheads. The agency has recorded the use of Geran-2 drones that drop delay-action cluster munitions. The weight of the warheads produced in Russia or Iran has increased to 90 kilograms.
Russia is working to increase the drones’ moisture resistance class to handle difficult weather conditions. It has also tested the jet engine powered Geran-3 drone.
Ukraine’s Security Service released a photo of Chinese-made parts of Russian Geran drones used in a major attack on Kyiv on July 4. One of the parts has the marking “23.05.2025” that likely shows the production date.
“What an irony. Following tonight’s massive Russian air attack on Ukraine, we discovered in Kyiv a component of a Russian-Iranian Shahed-136/Geran-2 combat drone, which was made in China and supplied just recently. And right on the eve, the Chinese Consulate General’s building in Odesa suffered minor damage as a result of Russian strikes on the city,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha said in a post to X on July 4.
“There is no significant Russian weapon today that is produced without components, equipment, or materials from other countries – sadly, including some from Europe and NATO,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said, addressing the NATO Summit Defense Industry Forum on June 24.