Russia Rains Missiles Again-Is Ukraine’s Complete Erasure the Endgame Now?

National News: Russia attacked several Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and a ballistic missile on Tuesday night, damaging energy infrastructure and wounding at least 15 people, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired 400 drones and a ballistic missile, with the main targets being the cities of Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Vinnytsia.

"These large-scale long-range attacks were targeting energy infrastructure," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X. 80,000 households in Kryvyi Rih and the Dnipropetrovsk region lost power, Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK reported on Telegram.

Why did Russia intensify attacks

The Ukrainian air force shot down most of the drones, but 57 drones and one missile damaged 12 targets. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities this summer, regularly using hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles. US President Donald Trump cited this as a reason to give Ukraine more weapons, especially air defence systems. "Russia is not changing its tactics, and to counter this terror we must systematically strengthen defenses: more air defenses, more drone interceptors, and a determination to make Russia feel our response," Zelensky wrote.

A Russian drone attack wounded at least eight people in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region, officials said on Wednesday, July 16.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 400 drones and one ballistic missile, primarily targeting Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, and Vinnytsia, three cities… pic.twitter.com/0kdsQ0K2Xz

— GMA Integrated News (@gmanews) July 16, 2025

Damage and human casualties

Eight people were injured in Vinnytsia, and a drone attack hit a factory there belonging to the Barlinek Group, a Polish wood flooring manufacturer. "The plant manager told me it was a deliberate attack from three directions... Putin's criminal war is getting closer to our borders," Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on X. Olexandr Vilkul, the head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rih, said Russia launched a prolonged attack with one missile and 28 drones, which also hit water supplies. A 17-year-old boy is in critical condition. In Kharkiv, 17 explosions occurred during a 20-minute drone attack, injuring three people.