Russian drones strike Ukraine's 2nd-largest city, damaging a maternity
hospital
[July 11, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone barrage targeted the center of
Kharkiv on Friday, injuring nine people and damaging a maternity
hospital in Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials said.
Mothers with newborns were being evacuated to a different medical
facility, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. He didn't say
whether anyone at the hospital was among the injured.
Russia’s recent escalation of long-range Shahed drone attacks on
Ukrainian cities, which often also include ballistic and cruise missiles
as well as powerful glide bombs, has brought renewed urgency to efforts
to improve Ukraine’s air defenses after more than three years of war.
“There is no silence in Ukraine,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said after the Kharkiv bombardment. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has
endured repeated and intensifying drone attacks in recent weeks, as have
many other regions of the country.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three
years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights
mission in Ukraine said Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones
and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is pressing hard on parts of the
1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where thousands of soldiers on
both sides have died since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of
neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western partners to quickly enact pledges of
help they made at an international meeting in Rome on Thursday.
Ukraine desperately needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to
stop Russian missiles and more interceptor drones to bring down the
Russian-made Shaheds, he said. Russia reportedly has expedited drone
production, and Zelenskyy said Moscow plans to manufacture up to 1,000
drones a day.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that talks with U.S. President Donald Trump have
been “very constructive,” even though the administration has given
conflicting signals about its readiness to provide more vital military
aid. Zelenskyy said he is minded to replace his ambassador to the U.S.,
Oksana Markarova, with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Ukraine has asked foreign countries to supply it with another 10 Patriot
systems and missiles, Zelenskyy said. Germany is ready to buy two
systems and Norway has agreed to buy one, which will be passed on to
Ukraine, he said.
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Karyna Holf, 25, stands in her apartment which was damaged by a
Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Trump said late Thursday that the U.S. is sending weapons to other
NATO countries, which are paying Washington for them and giving them
to Ukraine. In an interview with NBC, Trump didn’t specifically
refer to Patriot systems.
He said he would make “a major statement” on Russia on Monday. He
didn’t elaborate, but Zelenskyy has long pleaded for tighter
economic sanctions on Moscow.
A new bipartisan U.S. sanctions package that aims to force Russia to
the negotiating table could go to a vote in the Senate before the
August recess, its backers Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal told The Associated Press on
Thursday.
The bill calls for a 500% tariff on goods from countries that
continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. It
takes aim at nations such as China and India, which account for
roughly 70% of Russia’s energy trade and bankroll much of its war
effort.
After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts in Kyiv,
authorities announced Friday they are establishing a comprehensive
drone interception system under a project called “Clear Sky.”
The project includes a 260-million-hryvnia ($6.2 million) investment
in interceptor drones, operator training, and new mobile response
units, according to the head of the Kyiv Military Administration,
Tymur Tkachenko.
Zelenskyy appealed to foreign partners to help Ukraine accelerate
the production of the newly-developed interceptor drones, which have
proved successful against Shaheds.
“We found a solution, as a country, scientists and engineers found a
solution. That’s the key,” he said. “We need financing. And then, we
will intercept.”
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