Russia claimed that over 100 Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and other regions on Thursday, July 17, just days after US President Donald Trump reportedly “encouraged” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “step up” strikes deep with Russia, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses had shot down around 122 Ukrainian drones overnight as both countries turn increasingly to aerial assaults, with peace talks between Ukraine and Russia heading nowhere.
The latest aerial assaults between the rival-locked nations comes after Donald Trump reportedly also asked Zelensky if he could strike Russian capital Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons, with the war between Russia and Ukraine now in its fourth year.
Russia’s St Petersburg targeted; flights temporarily cancelled
Speaking about the latest assault on Russia, authorities said a district in the east of St. Petersburg was targeted, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin, said three drones heading for the Russian capital were destroyed. The city’s main airport briefly cancelled flights during the night, but didn’t cite the threat from drones, added the WSJ report.
Talks with Russia ‘need more momentum’
On Friday, July 18 — a day after the latest assault — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that peace negotiations with Russia needed “more momentum” and that he had asked new National Security and Defence Council secretary Rustem Umerov to “intensify the negotiation track”.
“The implementation of the agreements from the second Istanbul meeting is ongoing,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “This process needs more momentum,” said the Ukrainian president.
The earlier rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey earlier this year have yielded little more than an agreement to exchange prisoners and soldiers’ remains. No date has been set for a new round of talks, reported Reuters.
Russia unleashes largest aerial assault on Ukraine
Last week, Russia unleashed more than 700 drones and missiles across Ukraine, the largest such assault of the war, reported WSJ.
The Russian strikes have also increasingly targeted the diplomatic and commercial sites linked to Ukraine’s Western allies — most recently Poland. On July 4, a drone hit the consular section of the Polish Embassy in Kyiv. No staff was injured.
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