Putin’s ‘illusion of victory:’ Russia ramps up missile attacks on Ukraine

Ukraine’s air defence downed only one because of a dire, desperate lack of Western-made missile interceptors, and the other two struck a sports centre that hosted an exhibition of drones. The ear-popping, earth-shattering strikes wounded more than 100 people and killed 12, including Valentyna Savitska, a fair-haired, 32-year-old border security officer and mother of two. “Their childhood is over; they lost their mum,” Savitska’s husband, Ihor Solovey, told Al Jazeera. His son Vladyslav, 15, is now determined to join the military as “his choice is revenge, revenge for mum,” said Solovey, who heads the government-run Center for Strategic Communication that analyses and refutes Russian disinformation. His daughter Polyna, 11, is still recuperating. “Mum is unconditional love, mum is tenderness, mum is support. And [Polyna] already understands that she lost it all,” Solovey said. “Her psychologist says there’s a delayed stress, a scar for life.” July became the Russia-Ukraine war’s deadliest month since May 2022 as Moscow launched 376 missiles, a sinister record compared with 288 in March and 192 in July 2025. Russia also sent nearly 5,000 long- and short-range drones and hundreds of gliding guided bombs that collapsed entire buildings in front-line areas. Survivors often lose their houses and belongings. One of the missiles exploded just metres away from Kateryna Babych’s two-bedroom apartment in central Kyiv on July 2, in what became the war’s largest and deadliest attack that left 31 dead and more than 100 wounded. Within seconds, the blast turned her apartment building into a concrete mess. Broken windows and shockwave-disfigured doors were engulfed in the fire as suffocating smoke rose. Babych, 47, said she was more worried about her son Dmitry, who got a concussion and had his meniscus torn after a wardrobe fell on him. “He says nothing hurts, but he threw up after he pulled me out of my room.