UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Aug 1 — In July, Russia fired 13 times at Kharkiv with ballistic missiles, glide bombs (UMPB D-30), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and Kh-35U missiles, the Department of Emergency Situations reports, according to the Kharkiv City Council.

Russia attacks Kharkiv and the surrounding region often because of its proximity to the border and the frontline, especially so since May 2024, when Moscow’s new ground offensive from the north started.

The air raid alert was sounded 114 times, and there were 70 threats of Russian attacks on Kharkiv this month.

On July 24, Russian troops attacked Kharkiv. They dropped a modified glide bomb (UMPB D-30) on a private residential area, damaging the house of a Kharkiv volunteer.

Also, the Russian army attacked Feldman ecopark, a landscape park, in the Kharkiv suburbs, injuring two employees born in 1983 and 2005 and causing stables to catch fire.

In addition, on July 24, a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv damaged the office building of Fondation suisse de déminage (FSD), a humanitarian NGO that helps with demining efforts in the region.

FSD confirms that, although the office building, vehicles, and equipment “sustained significant damage,” no employees of organizations were killed or injured.

On July 3, the Russian military attacked a residential area in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv, injuring eight people, including an eight-year-old child.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in an interview to RBC-Ukraine that Kharkiv needs “the most modern system of air defense”  to protect the skies above the city.

According to the mayor, several Patriot systems will not be able to fully protect Kharkiv, as the Russians mostly attack the city with glide bombs (FABs and KABs), often modified to fly from beyond the border. One of the most efficient ways to prevent these attacks is to shoot down the aircraft that launches these bombs.

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