Russian Missile Strike Kills 18, Injures 300 in Ukraine

The attack, regional Governor Serhii Lysak said, struck a dormitory, a gymnasium, an administrative building, and a passenger train. Two other missiles hit the town of Samarske, where two people were killed and 14 wounded.

“Everywhere, sadly, the dead and injured,” Lysak said in a message shared over the social messaging app Telegram.

Zelenskyy Responds During NATO Summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sharply denounced the attack as he addressed the Dutch parliament in The Hague. He used the occasion to call on NATO member countries to invest more in Ukraine’s defense sector, which has built up its national drone-production capacity quickly.

Zelenskyy said that Russia has deployed almost 29,000 Shahed drones, unmanned aerial vehicles produced in Iran since the full-scale invasion began.

Ukraine Strikes Back in Russia
As Ukraine had its attack in Russia’s Rostov region, councilors said. The city of Taganrog saw a school, grain facility, residential buildings, and sports complex damaged by a Ukrainian strike, local Russian officials said. But Yury Slyusar, the governor, said there were no fatalities, naming a death toll was zero, with widespread property damage.

Ukraine has increased its use of drones as part of its defense and repatriation plan. A well-coordinated drone attack known as “Operation Spider’s Web” was launched for the first time earlier this month on Russian long-range bombers stationed at air bases, signaling Kyiv’s increasing capacity for drone strikes in the 40-month-old war.