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The night of August 7 saw another wave of intense strikes as Russian and Ukrainian forces targeted strategic infrastructure and military sites across each other’s rear regions. Unlike in the previous attacks, the Ukrainian military launched NATO missiles along with the kamikaze UAVS. The Kyiv regime is expectedly trying to provoke escalation ahead of the anticipated talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Russian forces continues massive drone offensives, deploying 112 Geran-type loitering munitions across Ukraine last night. They targeted military and logistical hubs in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Pavlohrad, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and other cities. The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation confirmed that the strikes hit railway junctions, command posts, and storage sites for long-range drones, as well as temporary bases housing Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries.
One of the main targets was the Nizhnedneprovsk-Uzel railway station in Dnipro, a key logistics hub supplying Ukrainian forces in Donbass. The attack damaged traction substations, destroyed fuel depots, and severed communication lines, temporarily disrupting rail movements toward Kharkiv and Pavlohrad.
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Other high-value targets in Dnipro included a military enlistment office, where a direct hit destroyed secure communication nodes and mobilization records, reportedly killing up to 15 personnel.
A National Guard brigade’s compound was also struck, igniting an arms depot stocked with Western-supplied rifles and ammunition.
Another precision strike destroyed Ukrainian command post hidden in a lyceum building in Vasilkov. Up to eight Ukrainian officers were reportedly killed in the attack.
In Kryvyi Rih, Russian drones hit a military airfield, damaging aircraft and disabling flight control systems. Another airfield was struck in Ladanka. Its facilities were not used by the Air Force of Ukraine but a fuel depot and radar stations deployed there were reportedly put out of order. Meanwhile, strikes on telecommunications infrastructure in Chernihiv region, including Vodafone and Ukrtelecom facilities, crippled encrypted military communications in the region.
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In its turn, the Ukrainian military attempted another massive wave of drone and missile strikes, primarily targeting Russia’s southern regions.
Russian air defenses intercepted 125 drones, with the heaviest activity over the Azov and Black Seas, as well as Krasnodar Krai, where falling debris injured a civilian in Slavyansk-na-Kubani. Together with the drones, Russian air defense destroyed eight Storm Shadow missiles and an unmanned boat in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian UAV struck the Afipsky oil refinery near Krasnodar, igniting a major fire at a gas processing unit. The plant, responsible for 2.1% of Russia’s total refining capacity, was confirmed by Kyiv’s military intelligence as a deliberate target. Additional strikes hit railway infrastructure in Volgograd region, setting fire to an administrative building at the Surovikino station, though rail operations continued uninterrupted.
The timing of the intensified strikes is no coincidence. With Trump and Putin expected to discuss potential pathways to ending the conflict, Kyiv appears desperate to demonstrate its capacity for prolonged resistance. The intensified attacks on Russian energy and transport networks suggest a deliberate strategy to inflict economic damage while complicating any diplomatic off-ramps. For the Ukrainian leadership, survival hinges on perpetuating the war effort, even at the cost of further devastation. As long as Western support persists, the bloodshed will continue, regardless of the human toll or the prospects for peace.
