Burc Eruygur
16 July 2026•Update: 16 July 2026
- Russian Defense Ministry claims air defenses shot down 375 Ukrainian drones over 18 regions
Russia and Ukraine on Thursday accused each other of overnight airstrikes that have resulted in at least three deaths and injured over 10 others.
In Ukraine, the country’s air force claimed on Telegram that air defenses, as of 9 am local time (0700GMT), shot down 129 out of 146 drones, as well as three out of 10 missiles, launched by Russia overnight.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people in the Ukrainian capital were killed and six others injured due to the overnight attack.
Klitschko reported that damage was inflicted in the city’s Darnytskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts.
Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv has also been targeted in an overnight attack, where Mayor Ihor Terekhov declared damages in the city’s Nemyshlianskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov separately announced in a morning statement that at least nine people were injured in the region’s administrative center, and 18 in the entire region, due to Russian attacks over the past day.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four people were injured in the Kharkiv region due to the overnight Russian strikes, noting “ordinary homes and entirely civilian sites have been damaged, including a movie theater and tennis courts.”
He also made a fresh call for military aid.
“Moscow is counting on ballistic terror and continues its strikes, so it's critical now to speed up deliveries of interceptors for our air defense. Every package matters, and everything we have agreed with our partners must arrive on time. The swiftness of these deliveries helps save our people’s lives and takes the fight out of Russia,” Zelenskyy said on US social media company X.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it carried out strikes in Ukraine overnight, damaging military-industrial facilities in Kyiv, infrastructure facilities in the ports of Odesa and Pivdenne, and a vessel and a high-speed boat of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces while transiting by sea to ports in the Odesa region.
The ministry later claimed its air defenses shot down 375 Ukrainian drones over 18 regions, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
In Russia's Saratov, the regional Health Ministry press service said three people sought medical help after a drone attack in the region.
"A drone attack has caused damage to civilian infrastructure in Engels. All emergency services are on scene. There are no preliminary reports of casualties," Saratov Gov. Roman Busargin announced separately on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Yaroslavl Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said one person was killed and four others injured due to a "massive" drone attack in his region.
Local authorities in other Russian regions have also reported intances of downed drones, including over Moscow.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Russia's claims regarding the overnight drone attack.
