The long-range Russian drones come in swarms each night, buzzing over Ukraine by the hundreds, terrorizing the population and attacking targets from the industrial east to areas near its western border with Poland.

The virtual meeting of high-level military officials was led by British Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, attended the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

Russia has repeatedly shattered its own records for aerial assaults on Ukraine this summer, culminating in a peak attack on July 9 with the launch of 728 Shahed-type drones. Throughout the war, Russia steadily expanded the reach and intensity of its strikes on Ukrainian cities,