At least two dead, 19 wounded as Russia strikes Ukraine with missiles, drones — SkimNews
SkimNews Take
Russia's combined salvo of 121 drones and 12 missiles appears designed less for battlefield damage than for attrition — exhausting Ukraine's dwindling Patriot interceptors so that each subsequent strike becomes harder to defend.
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- Russia launched 6 ballistic missiles, 6 cruise missiles, and 121 drones at Ukraine on Saturday (July 11, 2026), killing at least 2 and wounding 19; Ukraine's air force said it downed 2 cruise missiles and 111 drones but could not stop the ballistic missiles.
- President Zelenskiy said civilian infrastructure in Kyiv was hit before the air raid alert was issued, with 11 wounded in the capital from ballistic and cruise missile and drone strikes; a missile also struck Odesa killing 2, and a drone hit a civilian enterprise in Kharkiv wounding 7.
- Ukraine is critically low on Patriot air defense munitions and has been largely unable to down ballistic missiles — which travel at several times the speed of sound — over the past month, and is pressing Europe to co-develop an anti-ballistic system.
- U.S. President Trump announced this week that Ukraine will be granted a license to produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles; Zelenskiy, after the latest strikes, called for those projects to move "as swiftly as possible."
- Strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region have killed more than 60 people so far this month, underscoring the escalating tempo of Russian attacks on the capital.
- Ukraine's drone forces chief Robert Brovdi said his units struck 21 fuel tanker vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight plus 7 other cargo and support ships, bringing the week's total to 76 vessels struck as Kyiv targets Russian military logistics deep behind the front lines.
Why it matters: Ukraine's inability to intercept ballistic missiles — directly attributed in the source to critically low Patriot munitions — means Russian strikes on civilian targets will keep producing casualties until allied resupply or domestic production arrives, the gap Trump pledged to close this week with a Patriot manufacturing license.
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