Many were killed in tonight's extensive attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. During Thursday, the death toll has continued to rise and more dead and injured are feared to be under the rubble. According to Ukraine, Russia used over 600 drones and missiles during the night.
The Ukrainian air defense could previously stop most of the Russian weapons sent to the country, says defense researcher Olena Bilousova at Kyiv School of Economics. But now it's not enough.
The most important factor, in my opinion, is the quantity. Previously, maybe 50 or 70 drones came per night. Now we have several hundred, she says.
Increased number
There was a time when we felt more or less safe, even when Russia carried out daily attacks. But from the beginning of the summer, Russia has significantly increased the number of drones and missiles that can be used in one night, so it has become much harder to stop and much harder to save our people, civilian objects, and other objects.
Additionally, Russia continues to develop its weapons, and more complicated variants of drones of the Iranian type Shahed are emerging.
They are harder to stop with the Ukrainian system that has been developed earlier, says Olena Bilousova. She also mentions the problem with the fake drones that Russia also sends out to tire out the Ukrainian air defense.
No expectations
She lives herself in Kyiv's central parts and woke up to explosions during the night towards Thursday. She took her cat to a room without windows to be more protected. There they stayed on the floor until the attack was over.
Every time we see the news, and we see the destroyed houses, it's really painful. Everyone feels sad and deeply affected, says Olena Bilousova.
She herself has difficulty seeing that an end to the war would come soon.
With respect for all diplomatic efforts, I have no expectations that this will happen, mainly because we see that Russia has no need to end the war.
