20 July,2026 03:50 PM IST | Kyiv | mid-day online correspondent
People walk past damaged cars parked in a street following missile strikes in Kyiv on Sunday, July 19. PIC/ AFP
The death toll from Russia's overnight missile and drone barrage on Ukraine rose to at least six on Sunday as fresh strikes hit multiple cities, while both Moscow and Kyiv intensified attacks on each other's energy infrastructure, news agency AP reported.
Three people were killed in a Russian strike on a postal facility near Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, while separate guided bomb attacks on Kherson and Sumy left at least one person dead in each city, according to Ukrainian authorities. One person was also killed in Kyiv, where Russia had launched a large-scale overnight assault using ballistic missiles, drones and guided bombs.
Russia fired 41 missiles and 125 drones across Ukraine overnight, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying most of the missiles targeted the capital. The latest attacks again highlighted Ukraine's shortage of US-made Patriot air defence systems, regarded as the most effective means of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.
US President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot air defence systems, although the details and timeline remain unclear and large-scale production could take years.
The overnight strikes sparked fires in five districts of Kyiv, damaging residential buildings, office and industrial facilities, a dormitory and vehicles, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.
Viktoria Shejko, 32, was sheltering in the corridor of her apartment building with her husband and seven children when the explosions began.
"When the alarm started, we checked that there were ballistics, then went into the corridor. Then it started exploding one missile after another," she said.
Describing the psychological toll of the repeated attacks, she added: "It used to be once a week or even more rarely, but now if not every day, then every other day."
Emergency responders rescued four people from a burning house in Kyiv's Sviatoshynskyi district, while another blaze engulfed a three-storey residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, where one person was found dead. Firefighters also tackled fires in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi, and Dnipro districts.
Russia's Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted facilities linked to Ukraine's military, including plants manufacturing Flamingo drones and components for Neptune guided missiles, as well as a postal terminal allegedly used to store dual-use goods and assemble drones, robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment.
Separately, two oil tankers were struck at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal off Russia's Black Sea coast, forcing the suspension of oil loadings, the consortium said.
The strike on the ASIA and NISSOS tankers at the port of Novorossiysk caused a fire aboard the ASIA, which was later extinguished. The CPC did not identify who carried out the attack.
The company said there were no casualties or oil spills, and both tankers, sailing under the flags of Liberia and the Marshall Islands respectively, remained afloat.
Russia and Ukraine have sharply increased attacks on vessels in the Black and Azov seas over the past week. Kyiv says it is targeting Russia's so-called "shadow fleet", which transports oil in violation of international sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia's oil infrastructure, arguing that it directly supports Moscow's war effort and generates export revenues that finance the conflict.
The 1,510-km CPC pipeline links Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea oil fields to Novorossiysk, where crude oil is loaded onto tankers for export to global markets. The pipeline carries about 80 per cent of Kazakhstan's crude exports, while the Russian government and state-owned oil companies together hold a 31 per cent stake in the consortium.
Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck additional energy infrastructure inside Russian territory.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Security Service hit three oil depots in Russia's Stavropol region, while another military unit targeted a separate fuel-related facility. Zelenskyy also claimed that three Russian tankers in the Black Sea had been struck.
Earlier, Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said Ukrainian drone attacks had sparked fires at two industrial facilities in the region but reported no casualties.
Russian news outlet Astra reported that three oil depots may be on fire in Stavropol, based on photographs and videos shared by local residents.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defence systems intercepted 140 Ukrainian drones overnight across eight Russian regions, annexed Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas. It did not specify how many drones had been launched or how many reached their intended targets.
In Russia's Kursk region, bordering Ukraine, Ukrainian drones struck four apartment buildings, causing a fire and injuring one person, according to regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein.
(With AP inputs)
