Ukraine dispatch: after Turkey peace talks, Russia resumes mass bombings of Ukraine

The thunders of exploding bombs recently interrupted my night, a morose testament to Russia’s nocturnal attacks on Ukraine, which have become a defining feature of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

These barrages heavily accelerated following peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul on Wednesday. Thereafter, Russia launched fresh military strikes across Ukraine, underscoring diplomacy’s limited effects thus far.

Domestically in Ukraine, many feel the irony and pain of negotiation-linked escalation. “There is a saying here,” a Ukrainian resident told me in one of the underground bomb shelters as explosions pounded in the background, “the more talks about negotiations, the more air raid alerts.”

The meeting—the first in seven weeks—yielded no agreement on a ceasefire or political framework and concluded after only 40 minutes, though relatively smaller humanitarian agreements were reached, including those regarding prisoner and deceased war body exchanges.

It is likely that part of the purpose behind night barrages is to target sleeping civilians. It is also likely that these attacks mean to psychologically wear potential victims down in a number of ways, including inducing sleeplessness. It is quite common to receive an air raid alert during regular sleeping hours, around 2-4 a.m., and time in bomb shelters can range from approximately one to six hours.

Russia formally began the Russo-Ukrainian War in February 2022 when it invaded Ukraine at night, marking the most extensive military campaign in Europe since World War II. Russian offensives attacked various Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, by air and land, killing civilians and soldiers. Although, it truly started in 2014 following the Euromaidan protests and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The overnight assaults have continued to characterize the war. Russia has been notoriously barraging Ukraine with Iranian-provided Shahed-136, or kamikaze drones, at night. Shahid-136 drones are difficult to detect on radar, which can cause delays or failures in activating air raid sirens.

Russia continues to surpass its own monthly records in number of kamikaze drones launched at Ukraine, with the figure being a staggering 5,337 in June, the biggest aerial attack since the war began. According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), June also had the highest civilian casualty count in three years, with 1,343 injured and 232 killed.

Negotiations in Istanbul Fail

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials have reiterated that any peace between the two countries must begin with an immediate ceasefire.

However, this has yet to occur–certainly not during Wednesday’s meeting. Rustem Umerov, chief delegate of Ukraine, stated that there was “no progress on a cessation of hostilities…”

Hours after the talks, which included a Ukrainian offer for immediate ceasefire, Moscow conducted a wave of 107 kamikaze drone, Iskander-K ballistic missile, and unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks targeting 11 different regions.

In Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, authorities reported that one civilian was killed and four were injured in strikes that damaged several buildings in the city’s historic district, including the Pryvoz Market. Officials described the area as “the living heart of Odesa,” which is an official UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Additional Russian attacks struck Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where two civilians were killed and at least 33 others were injured when glide bombs hit a residential neighborhood.

In the Sumy region near the Russian border, at least one person was killed in a separate strike. Ukrainian officials reported ongoing Russian advances in this area, where ground forces have been attempting to secure a foothold.

Ukrainian forces responded with long-range drone strikes deep into Russian territory. One strike targeted a plant in the Stavropol region that Ukrainian officials identified as producing radio and electronic warfare equipment. Russian state media reported damage to two facilities of the Signal electronics plant in Nevinnomyssk.

Ukrainian authorities said such cross-border operations aim to weaken Russia’s military capabilities and will continue as long as Russian attacks persist.

The Kremlin reaffirmed its military objectives following the failed talks, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating that Russia is seeking to establish “buffer zones” along Ukraine’s borders to protect Russian regions from attacks.

In early June, Russian forces claimed territorial gains in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, which the defense ministry described as contributing to such a buffer.

Heavy fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, where President Zelenskyy confirmed that forces are defending the industrial city of Pokrovsk. Russia claimed to have captured two nearby villages—Zelenyi Hai in Donetsk region and Maliivka in Dnipropetrovsk—but Ukraine has not acknowledged these territorial losses.

Military activity remains concentrated in eastern and northeastern regions, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy. On Saturday alone, Russia bombarded Ukraine with 208 drones and 27 missiles. At least ten civilians were killed and dozens more injured in Russian missile and drone strikes across multiple regions during the targeted attacks.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, was shelled by four aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles, and 15 drones within a mere three hours. Twenty-nine people were injured, including one child.

Despite the intensified fighting, there has been no indication of progress toward a ceasefire.

Russia continues to demand Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and recognition of Russian sovereignty over occupied territories. Ukraine, for its part, maintains its position that any agreement must include the restoration of its territorial integrity and credible post-war security guarantees.

The Global Geopolitical Climate

While some Western governments, notably France and the UK, expressed support for a future peacekeeping initiative, such proposals remain contingent on a formal ceasefire that appears increasingly unlikely in the short term. Ukraine and Russia appear committed to achieving additional military objectives before returning to the negotiating table.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, the US has become increasingly and publicly impatient with Russia.

On July 14, US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Russia with 100 percent secondary tariffs unless Russia agreed to a peace deal within 50 days.

On Monday, Trump abruptly announced the shortening of the deadline to “about 10-12 days from today.” It is unclear how Moscow will respond, although I will be on heightened alert to increased mass bombing and missile launches, particularly during sleeping hours. Such a deadline would roughly occur around the same time as Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24th, foreboding a potential uptick in Russian aggression.

Trump also pledged billions of dollars worth of weaponry, including defensive Patriot Missiles, to Ukrainian frontlines via NATO countries, on July 14. Trump cited his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his decision to supply the weapons, stating that Putin “talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening.”

Although my political and ethical compass does not usually align with Trump’s decisions, certainly regarding Ukraine, I must say that he is correct in this statement.

I generally disagree with Trump on Ukraine due to his frequent misinformation and overall sentiment towards Ukrainian victims. For instance, Trump has repeatedly blasted Zelenskyy for starting the Russo-Ukrainian war, even though strong evidence suggests it began in 2014, and Zelenskyy became President in 2019. Given that Trump leads geopolitical decision-making for arguably the most powerful nation in the world, this gives me great concern. Likewise, it is perturbing that simply reading basic literature on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict would have prevented this misunderstanding.

Likewise, friends and colleagues at Yale informed me of the Trump administration’s decision to defund the Yale Humanitarian Lab, which tracks and returns Ukrainian children displaced by the war and captured by Russian forces. As someone in human rights affairs who also happens to be an orphan, you can perhaps see why I largely disagree with Trump on Ukraine.

However, it is true that Russia continues to blame seemingly any country other than itself, including even peaceful Bulgaria, for the war it started. Even worse, it also continues to bomb civilians, including by aerially raiding maternity hospitals and children’s schools.

Ukrainian officials continue to emphasize their defensive posture and the need for international support to repel Russian advances. They also proposed a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin prior to the end of August, which, according to the Ukrainian delegation, was timed to align with Trump’s 50-day deadline. However, Moscow declined.

With active hostilities ongoing and diplomacy at a standstill, prospects for de-escalation remain concerning.

There was something hopeful that particularly struck me among the violence, however. As Moscow bombed Ukraine, I noticed that by morning, Ukrainian flags stood strong and lined streets.

The national anthem of my home country played in my head, particularly the part that reads:

“And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

During the War of 1812, Britain heavily bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. The British attacked by sea, firing bombs and rockets all night to try to force the Americans to surrender the fort. Despite the heavy bombardment, the American defenders held the fort and did not surrender.

The next morning, American lawyer Francis Scott Key, who watched the battle from a British ship where he had been detained, saw the American flag flying over the fort amidst the smoke and destruction. He wrote a poem on what he saw which later became the American national anthem, the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Indeed, I see similarities in Ukraine’s and America’s patriotic fights for democracy, justice, and freedom from tyranny. Just like Key witnessed in Baltimore, I saw that even after a night of bombing, the flags still held, literally and figuratively, high. In both moments, the persistence of a national symbol meant something larger: that the people had not given up.

The fight for freedom, whether in 1814 or today, endures through resilience, not just weapons.