Russia-Ukraine war escalates with deadly drone and missile strikes killing at least 27

The Russia-Ukraine war has escalated sharply with intense cross-border drone and missile strikes killing at least 27 people. Ukrainian drones targeted strategic Russian sites, including the Engels airfield, oil facilities, and Wildberries warehouses. Meanwhile, Russian forces launched devastating glide bomb and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities like Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv. The violence has exacted a heavy civilian toll, highlighted by a deadly blast at a Moscow restaurant and a strike on a Black Sea resort.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia

• ▪Ukrainian drone strikes targeted multiple locations deep inside Russian territory, including a Wildberries warehouse in the Samara region, approximately 800 kilometers from Ukraine's closest military positions.
• ▪Russian air defences intercepted and destroyed 635 Ukrainian drones during overnight attacks reported on August 2, 2026.
• ▪Ukrainian drones targeted the Engels airfield and an oil refinery in the Saratov region, as well as an oil depot in the Kaluga region and a drone launch site in Bryansk.

Russian attacks on Ukraine

• ▪A Russian strike destroyed a postal terminal in the northern Kharkiv region, killing a postal worker.
• ▪Russian planes dropped eight glide bombs over a 90-minute period on residential districts in Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens.
• ▪Russian forces struck infrastructure and two vessels carrying military cargo at Ukraine's Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, along with another vessel in the Black Sea.

Civilian casualties from strikes

• ▪At least 16 people were killed in Russia and 11 in Ukraine during an intensified exchange of drone and missile strikes.
• ▪Seven people, including three children, were killed and nearly 40 wounded when drone debris fell on the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka near Gelendzhik.
• ▪An explosion outside the Balzi Rossi Italian restaurant in Moscow killed five people and injured 19 others on August 1, 2026.

Zaluzhnyi on Ukraine NATO membership

• ▪Valerii Zaluzhnyi criticized NATO's guidance as being based on World War II doctrines, making Ukrainian integration impossible at its current development level.
• ▪Ukraine's former commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi stated that Ukraine has no prospect of joining NATO because it does not meet the required military standards.

Iran-Ukraine Caspian Sea incident

• ▪Iran had threatened retaliation following a late July attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea that killed one sailor and injured another.
• ▪The Iranian military cancelled planned retaliatory strikes on three sites in Ukraine after receiving an official apology from Kyiv.