Nine dead as Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes
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- Russia fired drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on July 12, 2026, killing four people: three in Dnipropetrovsk region, including two at an "industrial enterprise" in Kryvyi Rih, and a 48-year-old man in Kherson, mayor Yaroslav Shanko reported.
- Ukraine struck Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, killing four, while a long-range drone strike killed one man in Russia's Samara region, officials said.
- Ukraine's allies were set to convene in Paris on July 13 for talks on pressuring Russia to end the more than four-year war.
- U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have stalled in recent months as Washington shifted focus to its war with Iran.
- Moscow has escalated its campaign of ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine, killing dozens including in the capital Kyiv since July.
- Ukraine's air defenses are strained from repeated Russian ballistic strikes; the U.S. this week permitted Ukraine to build U.S.-designed Patriot air defense systems, but it may be months before they enter production.
Why it matters: Ukraine walks into the Paris talks with two unresolved pressures: a diplomatic track that has stalled because Washington's attention pivoted to Iran, and a material air-defense gap against Moscow's intensifying ballistic missile campaign. The U.S. decision to license Patriot production directly addresses that shortfall, but with production months away, civilians in places like Kherson and Kryvyi Rih remain exposed to overnight strikes — four died in one such attack on July 12.
