Ukraine war latest: Russia launches record 741 drones, missiles at Ukraine
Key developments on July 9:
- 'Nearly everything was aimed at Lutsk' — Russia launches record 741 drones, missiles, targeting western Ukraine
- Trump says US will 'take a look' at sending new Patriot system to Ukraine amid Russian attacks
- In historic feat, Ukraine's 3rd Brigade captures Russian troops using only drones and robots, military says
- Ukraine detains Chinese spies tasked with stealing Neptune missile technology, SBU says
- Slovakia continues to block EU's 18th Russia sanctions package, media reports
Russia launched what appears to be its largest missile and drone attack against multiple Ukrainian cities overnight on July 9, with the far-western city of Lutsk coming under the heaviest attack of the war.
Russian forces deployed 728 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys, as well as seven Kh-101 or Iskander-K cruise missiles and six Kinzhal missiles, the Air Force said.
Late spring and early summer in Ukraine have been marked by disturbingly frequent mass attacks on civilian targets, with Russia regularly terrorizing cities with ballistic and cruise missiles alongside record-breaking numbers of kamikaze drones.
Explosions rocked Kyiv at around midnight on July 9, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that Russian drones were attacking the city center and that air defenses were shooting down targets.
Ukraine's Air Force reported that dozens of Russian attack drones and ballistic missiles were also targeting Ukraine's far-west regions, with alerts of overhead drones approaching the western cities of Lutsk, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, and Ternopil.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 296 drones and all seven cruise missiles, while 415 drones disappeared from radars, according to the statement.
"Most of the targets were shot down. Our interceptor drones were used — dozens of (Russian) targets were downed, and we are scaling up this technology," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.
Explosions were heard in the city of Lutsk in western Volyn Oblast just before 4 a.m. local time, Suspilne reported, amid warning of drones and missiles overhead. The city was one of the hardest hit during the attack.
Volyn Oblast Governor Ivan Rudnytskyi said the region had approximately 50 drones and five missiles present in the airspace overnight, adding that "nearly everything was aimed at Lutsk."
Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said that a fire damaged an "industrial site" as well as a garage, in what he called the "most massive Russian attack" on the city since the start of full-scale war.
Elsewhere in the region, the roof of a home in Khmelnytskyi Oblast caught fire, the regional military administration said.
At least one person was injured amid the attack, with a woman sustaining a chest fracture in the city of Brovary in Kyiv Oblast, the regional military administration reported.
Ukraine's Air Force warned late on July 8 that Russia had launched MiG-31 aircraft from the Savasleyka airfield in Nizhny Novgorod, putting the entire country under an hours-long active missile threat. Swarms of drones were also heading towards multiple cities in Ukraine, the military said.
The Polish Air Force said it scrambled fighter jets amid the attack to protect Poland's airspace. The air raid alerts were lifted in western Ukraine around 6:15 a.m. local time, after nearly seven hours of warnings from the Air Force.
Explosions were also reported in communities closer to the front line, including Dnipro, Sumy, as well as over Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Russian ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones have targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with renewed ferocity in recent weeks, killing dozens of civilians and injuring hundreds more.
Trump says US will 'take a look' at sending new Patriot system to Ukraine amid Russian attacks
U.S. President Donald Trump said on July 9 that his administration is "going to have to take a look" at supplying Ukraine with another Patriot air defense system.
"They would like it. They've asked for it," Trump told reporters in the White House. "I know they made the request. We're going to have to take a look at it."
"When you talk about a system like that... they're doing it because they want to prevent death," he added. "They're getting hit hard, very hard. So we're looking at it."
The comments follow a July 8 reporting by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that the White House is considering sending Ukraine a Patriot battery in what would be the administration's first major new weapons transfer since taking office in January.
A U.S. defense official told WSJ that Trump has asked the Pentagon to explore options for supplying Ukraine with more arms, including whether additional Patriots could be sourced from allied countries.
According to Axios, the White House is working on a deal under which Germany would sell a Patriot battery to Ukraine, with the U.S. and European allies sharing the cost.
The proposal comes amid a series of conflicting signals from Washington. On July 2, the Pentagon announced a pause in deliveries of key military aid to Kyiv, including Patriot interceptors and precision-guided munitions.
Trump later denied involvement in the decision and expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for failing to pursue a ceasefire.
Kyiv has repeatedly urged Western partners to expand air defense coverage as Russian forces continue to target Ukrainian cities with drones, missiles, and aerial bombs.
Patriot batteries, with their high-precision tracking and interception capabilities, are a cornerstone of Ukraine's layered air defense system.
Washington has so far delivered three Patriot batteries to Ukraine, while Germany has sent three more. A European coalition has contributed an additional battery, though not all systems are currently operational due to maintenance rotations.
If approved, a new transfer would mark Trump's first major military package to Ukraine not initiated by the previous Biden administration.
In historic feat, Ukraine's 3rd Brigade captures Russian troops using only drones and robots, military says
Ukrainian forces have for the first time captured Russian troops without the use of infantry, relying solely on drones and ground-based robotic systems, Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said on July 9.
"For the first time in history: Russian soldiers surrendered to the 3rd Assault Brigade's ground drones," the statement read.
Ukraine has increasingly employed drone and robotic technologies on the battlefield as part of its broader strategy to minimize troop losses and adapt to evolving threats along the front line during Russia's full-scale invasion.
The operation took place in Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, where the brigade deployed first-person view (FPV) drones and kamikaze ground robotic platforms to attack Russian fortifications, the brigade said in a statement.
The exact date of the operation was not provided.
According to the brigade, Ukrainian forces targeted and destroyed Russian bunkers with kamikaze drones and robotic ground vehicles. As another robot approached a damaged Russian holdout, the remaining Russian soldiers reportedly chose to surrender.
The captured troops were then guided out of the combat zone by drones and taken into custody by Ukrainian forces, the brigade said.
The brigade added that the Russian positions had previously resisted capture by neighboring Ukrainian units, but the successful assault by unmanned systems allowed Ukrainian forces to take control of both Russian fortifications and a nearby forest line.
Ukraine detains Chinese spies tasked with stealing Neptune missile technology, SBU says
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained two Chinese nationals in Kyiv suspected of attempting to steal classified military technology related to Ukraine's Neptune cruise missile system, the agency announced on July 9.
According to the SBU, the two individuals, a 24-year-old former student of a Kyiv technical university and his father, were gathering secret documentation with the intent to illegally transfer it to Chinese intelligence.
The younger man, who remained in Ukraine after being expelled from university in 2023 for poor academic performance, allegedly attempted to recruit a Ukrainian national with access to classified defense technologies in order to obtain technical data on the RK-360MC Neptune missile system.
China has emerged as one of Moscow's key wartime partners, helping Russia circumvent sanctions and becoming the largest supplier of dual-use goods aiding its defense sector.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused China of backing Russia and signed an order on July 8 imposing sanctions on five Chinese-registered companies for allegedly supplying components found in Russian Shahed-type drones used to attack Ukraine.
The Neptune, a Ukrainian-developed coastal defense missile, gained international attention after it was used to sink the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva in 2022.
The SBU said the former student was caught "red-handed" during the transfer of sensitive documents, and his father was detained shortly afterward. Investigators allege the elder suspect, who resides in China but made periodic visits to Ukraine, personally supervised his son's espionage activities.
Searches of the suspects' belongings uncovered mobile phones containing evidence of coordinated efforts to spy on Ukrainian military technology, including encrypted communications between the two men.
Both suspects have been charged with espionage. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison and confiscation of property.
Ukraine struck a Russian warehouse storing ammunition and reconnaissance drones with a Neptune missile near the village of Chaltyr in Russia's Rostov Oblast in a January operation carried out by the SBU and Ukraine's Navy.
Slovakia continues to block EU's 18th Russia sanctions package, media reports
EU ambassadors failed to approve the bloc's 18th package of sanctions against Russia during a July 9 Committee of Permanent Representatives meeting, as Slovakia continued to block the measures, European Pravda reported, citing three unnamed EU diplomats.
Since EU sanctions require unanimous backing, a single country's veto prevents the package from being implemented. In late June, both Slovakia and Hungary opposed the draft sanctions, stalling their adoption.
According to European Pravda, Slovakia's position has not changed, despite what one EU diplomat described as "good and productive" talks between Bratislava and the European Commission on July 3.
Unlike Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has consistently opposed sanctions and military aid for Ukraine, Slovakia has not previously tried to block new EU measures.
Bratislava asked for a delay in adopting the latest package until the EU clarifies the financial implications of RePowerEU — an initiative to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2030.
The sanctions package will be discussed again at a meeting scheduled for July 11. Sources told the outlet that a final agreement is expected this week, with formal adoption likely to take place at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on July 15.
The 18th package includes new restrictions on Russia's energy and banking sectors, as well as bans on transactions connected to the Nord Stream pipeline project.
These measures are part of the EU's broader effort to increase economic pressure on Moscow as the Kremlin rejects calls for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.
While the EU advances its sanctions framework, the United States has not introduced any new sanctions on Russia since President Donald Trump took office in January.
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