KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine hit more oil facilities deep inside Russia in nighttime attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as Kyiv kept up its campaign to undermine Moscow’s wartime economy and embarrass the Kremlin. The repeated strikes have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians. Ukrainians, meanwhile, are enduring regular barrages that Kyiv’s depleted air defences are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s 4-year-old full-scale invasion. The Kyiv region observed an official day of mourning Thursday after a Russian missile and drone blitz killed 17 people the previous day, prompting an increasingly urgent scramble by Ukraine and its partner countries to find new air defence supplies. In the first six months of this year, 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine, the United Nations office in Kyiv said Wednesday. That was a 37 per cent increase from the same period last year and a 114 per cent jump over 2024, it said, attributing the rise to more long-range aerial attacks by Russia. Zelenskyy said he met with senior officials on how to accelerate the development of Ukraine’s own ballistic weaponry, similar to its swift wartime innovation in drone technology. “Developing one’s own ballistic capabilities and creating a new anti-ballistic system is a task that only a tiny minority of countries worldwide have managed to accomplish,” he said in a social media post. “Ukraine has this capability.” Zelenskyy said he expects the program to produce results this year and next after it overcomes “key challenges,” including procuring critical components, technological co-operation with partner countries, and choosing where to build the armaments. Ukraine says it hit Russian refineries and vessels at sea Ukrainian forces hit a refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from the front line, as well as a refinery in the Yaroslavl region, almost 700 kilometres (400 miles) from the border, Zelenskyy said on social media. Yaroslavl Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev confirmed an attack on a refinery, saying in a Telegram post that drone debris hit the facility’s oil reservoirs, sparking a fire. Three private houses also caught fire, and several residential buildings were damaged, he added. Ukrainian forces hit two Russian military patrol boats in the Black Sea, Zelenskyy said, along with vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to evade western restrictions on its oil exports. He did not give any details. The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences overnight shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over its territory. Ukraine seeks more interceptor missiles to bolster air defences Drone and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine overnight killed at least three civilians and wounded 22 others, authorities said Thursday, as countries helping Kyiv resist the invasion scrambled to find more vital air defences for its fight. Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks pummelled Ukraine with ballistic missiles that Kyiv officials say only the U.S.-made Patriot air defence system can stop. But the Iran war has drained stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles, leaving Ukraine at the mercy of Russian bombardments that seek to exploit the weakened air defences. “We are working as hard as possible with all partners who can assist with the supply of interceptor missiles to protect against such insane Russian strikes targeting life, people, and civilian facilities,” Zelenskyy said on social media late Wednesday. He said he had spoken to NATO chief Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb about urgently procuring interceptors from stockpiles. Zelenskyy said he and Rutte “co-ordinated our efforts regarding countries that have the necessary missiles and the capacity to help.” Rutte said on X that he was discussing with allies “how we can continue to get Ukraine the air defences they urgently need.” Russian glide bombs wound 12 in Sumy region Russia appears determined to exhaust Ukraine through sheer weight of numbers in terms of soldiers, armour and weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that time is on his side, that western support will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure, western analysts and officials say. Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired four missiles and 101 long-range strike drones overnight, with air defences shooting down or jamming 66 drones. Three people were killed in Balakliia in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, said Vitalii Karabanov, head of the city’s military administration. In the neighbouring Sumy region, Russian glide bombs wounded 12 people, the National Police said. Apartment buildings and infrastructure were damaged, with hundreds of windows shattered, said regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov. In the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, a Russian drone struck a bus carrying farmworkers, injuring six people, regional authorities said. A Russian drone also struck a residential area in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring four, said regional administration head Ivan Fedorov. ___ Illia Novikov, The Associated Press
