Russian strikes across Ukraine kill 9 and NATO scrambles jets after a missile falls in Poland
A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight killed at least eight civilians, including children and injured more than 50 others, officials said
A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight killed at least eight civilians, including children and injured more than 50 others, officials said Thursday (July 30, 2026), and NATO scrambled its warplanes after one of the missiles crossed the country's western border into Poland. Also read | Zelenskyy hails ‘good’ Trump talks on Patriot interceptor production and Russia talks The blitz expanded Russia’s almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Kyiv where tens of thousands spent the night sheltering in subway stations, as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses. NATO said a Russian missile entered Polish airspace during the onslaught and landed in a rural area. It caused no injuries or damage but could deepen tensions between the military alliance and Moscow, as wary European countries fear the four-year-old war could spill into their territory. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called it “yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was “a very serious incident,” but added: “There are absolutely no reasons to believe that Poland was the target.” Russia's barrage struck areas of Ukraine where weapons are believed to be stored and manufactured. Ukrainian long-range drones and missiles have battered Russia's oil sector, causing a fuel crisis. The attack came two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump and representatives of American defense companies as he pleaded for swifter and bigger deliveries of Patriot air defense systems to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles.
The Iran war has drained stockpiles of the U.S.-made interceptors. Trump has promised to grant Ukraine licenses to build its own Patriots, but production could take many months. “Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” he said. Zelenskyy said at least 10 Ukrainian regions were attacked, with dozens of homes, businesses and infrastructure facilities destroyed or damaged. Russia launched more than 70 missiles, a significant number of them ballistic missiles, he said, and over 280 attack drones, of which more than 260 were intercepted. The Russian Defense Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian air bases, arms factories and military telecommunications and logistics facilities, including drone factories and storage depots, as well as plants for missiles, aircraft repairs, electronics and chemicals. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian attack killed six people and wounded 10, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, in a post on Telegram. Children were among the dead — a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17 in the area of Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy's hometown, Hanzha added. The children’s parents were killed in the same attack, but two more children were pulled alive from the rubble, Zelenskyy said. “It was an ordinary home, blown (to) smithereens by a ballistic missile,” he said on X.
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