Russia has launched 40 missiles, 750 guided aerial bombs, and 200 combat drones against Ukrainian cities and villages over the past week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 18.
This includes a combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv in the early morning of Aug. 18, involving North Korean ballistic weapons, as reported by the Kyiv City Military Administration. The attack was repelled without casualties.
"Russia always knows where its missiles and bombs hit – this is deliberate, targeted terror," Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
Guided aerial bombs, while having a shorter range than missiles, are cheaper to produce and are launched from aircraft within Russian territory, beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defense.
These bombs have had a devastating impact on both the battlefield and residential areas, damaging Ukrainian front-line positions and aiding Russia's advance during the Kharkiv offensive in May 2024.
Civilian casualties from guided bomb attacks are frequently reported in areas near the Russian border, such as Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Sumy oblasts.
Since the Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, air raid alarms in Sumy Oblast have surged, with the Air Force issuing 12 aerial bomb warnings in the past week.
The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported on Aug. 18 that a Russian guided bomb attack on Bilopillia killed one person and wounded another, with more potentially trapped under the rubble.
Andreas Umland
