LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed “inadequate or delayed” air protection provides for the deaths of a number of folks throughout Ukraine within the newest wave of Russian drone and missile strikes, launched on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
Zelenskyy stated that no less than eight folks had been killed throughout the nation with dozens extra injured. The assaults focused Kyiv and 9 different areas, the president stated, stretching from Lviv within the nation’s west and its border with Poland to Sumy and Kharkiv within the northeast of the nation, near the border with Russia.
The Ukrainian air power stated Russia launched 284 drones and 70 missiles — amongst them 9 ballistic missiles. The air power stated that it intercepted or suppressed 265 drones and 55 missiles, whereas “preliminary data” indicated that 11 missiles and 17 drones impacted throughout 20 areas.
“In a state of affairs the place we critically lack missiles for air protection from our companions, our troopers are doing the seemingly not possible, demonstrating a really excessive stage of professionalism,” Zelenskyy stated, noting the variety of missiles downed. “This extraordinary experience saves lives when the availability of missiles for air protection methods is inadequate or delayed,” he wrote in a submit to Telegram.
Smoke rises over Kyiv, Ukraine, throughout a Russian missile strike on July 30, 2026.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
“This Russian terror as soon as once more proves: defending in opposition to the Russian missile risk is a very powerful job for preserving the lives of our folks. And this can be a job that can’t be solely undertaken by Ukraine, by one nation alone,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“All companions know the way and what they will do to assist. The dearth of well timed help, the delays in supplying anti-ballistic missiles — these are the very destructions and the very casualties that, sadly, we’re experiencing at this time. It’s essential to assist the safety of life.”
A minimum of one individual was killed within the Kyiv area, Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated in a submit to Telegram.
Among the many different areas focused in a single day was the western metropolis of Lviv. Its mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, posted a video to X exhibiting widespread destruction in a part of the town. A minimum of 20 folks have been injured, Sadovyi stated, “In complete, greater than 20 residential buildings, in addition to a college and two kindergartens, have been broken,” he wrote.
Native residents react exterior a residential constructing partially destroyed because of Russian missile strikes within the western Ukrainian metropolis of Lviv on July 30, 2026.
Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Serhiy Kiral, Lviv’s deputy mayor, advised ABC Information by textual content message that rescue operations have been ongoing on the affect websites in a residential space of the town. Wednesday evening’s assault was probably the most important on Lviv since a drone strike on the town in March, Kiral stated.
Throughout Lviv’s western border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed “a violation of Polish airspace” through the Russian assault. Tusk stated he had convened a staff to research the incident.
Poland’s Operational Command stated that fighters have been scrambled and air protection methods placed on alert in response to the “intense fight exercise” over the border in Ukraine.
The command stated that it detected “an unidentified object transferring westward” in Polish airspace within the early hours of Thursday morning, with an F-16 fighter dispatched to the world to research. “Earlier than a definitive identification could possibly be made, the article disappeared from radar system indications.”
Rescuers work on the website of an residence constructing hit by a Russian missile strike in Lviv, Ukraine, on July 30, 2026.
Roman Baluk/Reuters
A helicopter was then despatched to the world and “positioned the possible crash website of the article in an undeveloped space close to the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia within the Lublin Voivodeship,” the command stated, with a floor search and rescue staff then deployed to the situation to research additional.
Ukrainian International Minister Andrii Sybiha reported on X that the article that crossed into Poland was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “terror clearly demonstrates that the necessity to strengthen ballistic safety for Ukraine and all of Europe is pressing,” Sybiha wrote.
“Each determination on extra air protection capabilities for Ukraine now must be taken directly and all agreements on extra interceptors should be applied as rapidly as attainable,” he added.
Russia’s Protection Ministry described its in a single day barrage as “an enormous strike” focusing on army positions, military-industrial amenities, army communication hubs and logistics facilities.
The ministry in Moscow additionally stated that its forces shot down no less than 258 Ukrainian long-range drones in a single day.
