Major Russian airstrike targets western Ukraine near Romania

Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on Jul 12, 2025

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Russia launched its latest massive drone and missile strike on Ukraine, targeting areas in the nation’s west that border European Union states.

The attack — including on areas that have seen few if any strikes in the war to date — left at least two people dead and damaged residential houses and other civilian infrastructure.

Kremlin forces fired almost 600 Russian drones and 26 cruise missiles across Ukraine, including at Chernivtsi, near the border with Romania and Moldova. It was the first strike on the historically significant city of some 265,000 people since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Two people were killed there and 14 wounded, including four hospitalized with serious injures, local authorities said. Additionally, residential houses, a university and city courts were damaged in the far western city of Lviv. A man was killed in the Donetsk city of Slovyansk by a Russian shell, the city’s mayor said.

Russia has ramped up airstrikes on Ukraine after it increased drone production, and recently has often fired more than 500 UAVs in a day. The United Nations reported that Ukraine in June saw its highest monthly civilian casualties in three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.

“The pace of Russia’s aerial strikes demands swift decisions — and it can be curbed through sanctions right now,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on platform X on Saturday.

“More air defense systems are needed, along with investments in interceptor drones, which are already delivering good results. We expect not just signals from our partners, but actions that will save lives.”

In the latest barrage Ukraine shot down 25 cruise missiles and 319 drones while another 258 drones were jammed, Air Defense Forces said. Still, one missile and 20 loitering munition hit targets at five locations while debris fell in 19 locations, the forces said.

Russia’s defense ministry said the strikes were delivered against Ukrainian defense industry enterprises in Lyiv, Kharkiv and Lutsk, as well as army recruitment centers and a military airfield in an unspecified location. Some 189 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia in the past day, the ministry said.

Zelenskyy on Friday said the U.S. has resumed shipping military aid to Ukraine, which was unexpectedly put on halt last week.

“According to all reports, the supply has been renewed,” Zelenskyy said late Friday in his daily video address to the nation. “We will continue to work with the American side at the military level, in particular our military with General Keith Kellogg.”