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Antonio Guterres raises alarm implicit ‘dangerous escalation’ aft hours-long Russian drone and rocket barrage this week.
Published On 5 Jul 2025
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a Russian drone and rocket onslaught against Ukraine this week that has been described arsenic the largest specified battle successful the three-year war.
In a connection connected Saturday, Guterres’s spokesperson said the Russian strikes “disrupted the powerfulness proviso to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, erstwhile again underlining the ongoing risks to atomic safety”.
“The secretary-general is alarmed by this unsafe escalation and the increasing fig of civilian casualties,” the connection read.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow fired much than 500 drones and 11 missiles astatine the superior Kyiv overnight into Friday successful an onslaught that killed 1 person, injured astatine slightest 23 others and damaged buildings crossed the city.
The sounds of aerial raid sirens, kamikaze drones and booming detonations reverberated until dawn.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the onslaught “deliberately monolithic and cynical”.
Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks connected Ukrainian cities arsenic United States-led efforts to scope a ceasefire to extremity the warfare person stalled.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s apical subject commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, warned of a imaginable caller Russian violative successful the Kharkiv region, a portion of northeastern Ukraine that has seen dense warring since Russia invaded successful 2022.
Moscow has been dilatory grinding its mode on respective parts of the Ukrainian beforehand enactment successful caller months, throwing distant continuous waves of infantry arsenic it seeks to property location its vantage successful troops and munitions.
Russian forces person already pushed into bluish Ukraine’s Sumy portion implicit the past months, carving retired a tiny foothold there.
Russia fired 322 drones and decoys into Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Ukraine’s aerial unit said. Of these, 157 were changeable down and 135 were lost, apt having been electronically jammed.
Ukraine has besides ramped up its retaliatory strikes successful Russia, with the Ministry of Defence saying it changeable down 94 Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday, on with 45 further drones successful the greeting and aboriginal afternoon.
Four Ukrainian drones besides were changeable down portion approaching Moscow connected Saturday, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Meanwhile, a pistillate was killed successful a Ukrainian drone onslaught successful the Rostov region, the acting politician said.
Separately, the Ukrainian subject said successful a connection connected societal media connected Saturday that its peculiar forces struck Russia’s Borisoglebsk subject airfield successful the Voronezh region, hitting a glide weaponry store and a trainer aircraft.
The subject said that different craft were besides apt hit, without giving details.
The politician of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev, wrote connected Telegram that much than 25 drones were destroyed implicit the portion overnight. He said a powerfulness enactment was temporarily damaged, but made nary notation of a subject airfield.
The attacks travel arsenic Ukraine’s Zelenskyy said connected Friday that helium had a “very important and fruitful” telephone speech with US President Donald Trump successful his efforts to fortify Ukraine’s aerial defences.
The US president besides spoke to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a time earlier successful a speech that helium said was disappointing.
“I’m precise disappointed with the speech I had contiguous with President Putin, due to the fact that I don’t deliberation he’s there, and I’m precise disappointed,” Trump said aft the telephone connected Thursday. “I’m conscionable saying I don’t deliberation he’s looking to stop, and that’s excessively bad.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said connected Friday that it was “preferable” to execute the goals of Russia’s penetration done governmental and diplomatic means.
“But arsenic agelong arsenic that is not possible, we are continuing the peculiar operation,” helium said.
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