Putin takes advantage of Trump’s erratic behavior: “He must be stopped. He is a monster”

©Jørgen Håland via Unsplash

At least nine people were killed and 28 others were injured, including four children, in a massive Russian missile attack on Kyiv during the night of July 31 to August 1. It was the second large-scale attack on Ukraine in 48 hours. Ballistic missiles gave residents only a few minutes’ warning; many were trapped under the rubble. “We heard explosions almost immediately after the air raid siren. How were we supposed to take cover?” said Lidiia Synovska (38) in a statement to NV from the Solomianskyi district.

Ukrainian emergency services reported that rescue operations are continuing and that a total of 105 people have been rescued from damaged buildings. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 17 injured people are in the hospital. In the Darnytskyi district, seven people were killed and 14 injured; in Solomianskyi, two were killed and eight injured. Five districts were affected, with fires in residential and commercial buildings, warehouses, and even a film studio.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force , 35 missiles—27 of them ballistic—and 185 Shahed drones were launched. Only two missiles were intercepted; 154 drones were shot down. President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles: “Only one ballistic missile was shot down, simply because there are no more Patriots. That is precisely what encourages Russia.”

“Putin must be stopped. He is a monster; the society that supports him is deeply sick,” says Zhanna Maidanska, whose family partially survived the attack, in the Kyiv Independent. “They create nothing; they only sow death.” Her aunt and brother are in the hospital. The attack began around 1:33 a.m. with successive explosions; this was followed by additional salvos at 2:16 and 3:20 a.m. Klitschko urged people to take shelter; in some buildings, people were trapped after partial collapses and fires.

De-escalation seems a long way off. While the U.S. had previously discussed a license for Ukrainian Patriot production, President Donald Trump said hours before the attack: “We did not agree to that.” Meanwhile, Kyiv remains vulnerable to ballistic threats.

©Jørgen Håland via Unsplash