Ukraine Fires 400 Drones Toward Moscow 07/20 06:39

   Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow in its latest major attack 
on the Russian capital, the city's mayor said Monday.

   (AP) -- Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow in its latest major 
attack on the Russian capital, the city's mayor said Monday.

   The blitz came hours after Russia bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities 
with ballistic missiles in a relentless cycle of tit-for-tat strikes that make 
a settlement to end Moscow's more than 4-year-old all-out invasion appear a 
distant possibility.

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he would hold "key 
talks" on Monday as he tries to defuse a domestic political crisis, after last 
week's government reshuffle exposed a deep split between the military's old 
guard and young innovators over how to fight the war.

   Zelenskyy needs to reassure Ukrainians that sacrificing 35-year-old Mykhailo 
Fedorov as defense minister and keeping faith with 60-year-old Soviet-trained 
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as armed forces chief won't derail the fight against 
Russia.

   Days of street protests in favor of Fedorov and against Syrskyi followed 
Zelenskyy's decision.

   Ukraine hits another Russian oil depot

   Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that over 400 Ukrainian drones were sent 
toward the Russian capital from late Sunday until early Monday. He said most 
were downed far from the capital and 85 were intercepted near Moscow.

   Andrei Vorobyov, the head of the region around Moscow, said that 10 people 
were wounded by Ukrainian drones. He said that several residential buildings 
and civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged.

   The attack started a fire at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park, about 30 
kilometers (18 miles) south of Moscow, according to Yevgeniya Khrustaleva, the 
head of the Domodedovo area of the Moscow region.

   The Astra news outlet reported that the assault also caused a fire at an oil 
depot in Podolsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Moscow but there was 
no official confirmation of the strike.

   Ukrainian forces struck logistics facilities and an oil depot in the Moscow 
region, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Ukraine's border, Zelenskyy 
said. He also said Ukrainian forces hit two vessels belonging to Russia's 
so-called shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil and four dry cargo ships in 
the Black Sea.

   It was not possible to independently verify either side's claims.

   Ukraine's long-range drone technology has swiftly evolved during the war, 
posing a problem for Russia, whose huge land mass is hard to fully protect. 
Kyiv's forces have aimed especially at Russian oil facilities, causing fuel 
shortages and embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

   In May, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 1,054 
Ukrainian drones in a 24-hour period.

   Russia uses ballistic missiles more frequently

   As Kyiv pleads with foreign partners to supply it with sophisticated 
interceptors that can counter Russian ballistic missiles, which are much harder 
to stop than drones or cruise missiles, Moscow's forces have sought to take 
advantage of weaknesses in Ukraine's air defenses.

   Ballistic missiles fly faster than the speed of sound and can reach Kyiv in 
minutes, giving air defenses little time to react and civilians to reach 
shelter.

   Russia has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles, and on 
Sunday used them in a bombardment that Ukrainian officials said killed at least 
six people and wounded dozens.

   "Russian forces have launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine thus 
far in July than Russia reportedly produces each month," the Institute for the 
Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday.

   "Russia appears to be dipping into its stockpiles to continue increasing the 
number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles 
have a higher success rate than drones and cruise missiles," it noted.

   A Russian strike on Pavlohrad in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region 
injured 13 people, military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. Eleven 
people were hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl, he said.

   Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday that its forces struck fuel tanks in 
the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa overnight.

   Russia fired two missiles and 94 long-range strike drones at the territory 
of Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine's air force. It said air defenses 
jammed or intercepted 81 drones, while nine drones and a missile caused damage 
at nine locations.