This week, Russia’s major overnight missile and drone attacks at Ukraine have become an almost daily occurrence. On Monday, Russia launched 35 missiles of various types and 23 Shahed drones at the country. Ukraine’s Air Force reported shooting down 22 missiles and 20 drones. The main target of the attack was Kyiv. Air defenses were at work in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolayiv, and Zaporizhzhia.
On Tuesday, two Russian ballistic missiles struck a military institute and nearby hospital in Poltava, killing 55 people and wounding over 300 others. On Wednesday, a Russian drone and missile attack killed seven people in Lviv, including four members of the same family — a mother and her three daughters.
Ukraine’s Kursk incursion was a preemptive move to prevent Russia from creating a buffer zone in the north, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with NBC News that was released earlier this week. He explained that Ukraine doesn’t need Russian land, and the Kursk incursion aims to restore the country’s territorial integrity. The Kursk operation is part of Ukraine’s victory plan, he also said.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s parliament formalized the appointment of several ministers, continuing a cabinet reshuffle that began earlier this week. It has endorsed, among others, a new foreign minister.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 27 out of 44 Russia-launched drones overnight on Friday with eight more “likely downed by the electronic warfare systems.” One of the drones returned back into Russia-occupied territory, and several more were still in the country’s airspace as of 8 a.m. Russia also used two missiles in the attack, the Air Force said.
Ukrainian forces retake positions in three areas in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
Ukrainian forces have retaken positions in New York and Nelipivka in Donetsk region, and near Lyptsi in Kharkiv region, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian OSINT project. Russian troops have advanced near Pishchane, Stelmakhivka, Hirnyk, and in Kalynivka, Lisivka and Halytsynivka.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops have now managed to stall the Russian advances in the area around Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region.