Russia continued its war in Ukraine unabated overnight after President Donald Trump gave the country a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire, launching another mass drone and missile attack.
Russia engaged in another drone and missile strike against Ukraine on Tuesday night, launching 400 Geran drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. The strikes targeted Vinnytsia, Krivoy Rog, Kharkov, Odesa, and Kramatorsk, largely hitting industrial targets. The Ukrainian Air Force only claimed to have downed 343 drones, a much lower interception rate than usual. Russia and Ukraine are known to exaggerate the number of interceptions.
Vinnytsia appears to have been the primary target, experiencing one of its biggest strikes of the war. At least 30 drones were used in the attack, notably striking and destroying a Polish-owned factory. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski decried the strike.
“Russian drones struck the Barlinek Group factory in Vinnytsia,” he said in a post on X. “The plant manager told me just now that it was deliberate, from three directions. There are injuries, including two people severely burned. Ukrainian services are responding, as is our consulate. Putin’s criminal war is getting closer to our borders.”
Kharkov was also heavily hit, with over a dozen impacts recorded. Major fires consumed a factory and an administrative building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia targeted energy infrastructure in Tuesday night’s strike.
“Russia is not changing its strategy — and to counter this terror effectively, we need to systematically strengthen our defenses: more air defense systems, more interceptors, and more determination — so that Russia feels our response,” he said.
Though the size of the strike vastly exceeds even the largest Russian strikes conducted earlier in the war, the number of drones and missiles is in the mid-range of the past few months. The strike represents a continuation of Russia’s attritional strategy to fight Ukraine, rather than an escalation.
Moscow has flexed its military and industrial capabilities in recent months, drastically boosting its drone and missile strikes against Ukraine to record levels. Over the past several weeks, it has continually broken its previous records of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine. It launched its largest-ever drone and missile strike on the night of July 8, involving 728 drones and 13 missiles.
For reference, a November strike of roughly 188 drones in a single night was record-setting at the time.
The increased drone and missile attacks against Ukraine have enraged Trump, driving him to question Russian President Vladimir Putin’s good faith at the negotiating table. As a result, he announced a plan to resume weapons shipments to Ukraine and to hit countries that have continued trade with Moscow with 100% tariffs, if a ceasefire agreement isn’t reached within 50 days.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “So, based on that, we’re going to be doing secondary tariffs. If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, it’s very simple, and they’ll be at 100%.”
Moscow greeted the U-turn with caution, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling the secondary tariff plan “genuinely hard to comprehend.”
“What underlies this ‘50-day’ declaration? Previously, there was discourse of ‘24 hours,’ then ‘100 days.’ We do wish to understand U.S. President Trump’s motivations,” Lavrov said in a session with reporters. “Clearly, he faces immense — I would even say, improper — pressure from the European Union and [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s] current leadership, who brazenly endorse Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands to continue arming his regime with modern, including offensive, weaponry, all at growing expense to Western taxpayers.”
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Moscow was taking the threat seriously.
“The statement made by the U.S. president is quite serious. Some statements are addressed personally to Putin. We certainly need time to analyze what was said in Washington. And if and when Putin deems it necessary, he will definitely comment on it,” Peskov said. “For now, one thing can be said unequivocally: it appears that such decisions being made in Washington, in NATO countries, and directly in Brussels, are being interpreted by the Ukrainian side not as a signal for peace, but as a signal to continue the war.”
Trump, meanwhile, warned Ukraine against striking Moscow with long-range U.S. weapons.
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“No, he shouldn’t target Moscow,” Trump responded to a shouted question. “No, we’re not looking to do that.”
Russia has stepped up its summer offensive, taking more territory in localized breakthroughs. Ukraine’s manpower and firepower troubles continue to take a toll, though Trump’s change in rhetoric has given Kyiv a ray of hope.