SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
In Russia and Ukraine, at least 20 people were killed and dozens more injured in air attacks that stretched from the weekend to this morning. That included the largest single-day Ukrainian attack on Russia to date. In a few minutes, we'll hear from the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Nina Khrushcheva, about people's reactions in Moscow. We start with details of the latest attacks in a war of attrition with no end in sight.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Joining us to tell us more about this is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Good morning, Charles.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, first of all, tell us about this massive Ukrainian attack.
MAYNES: Well, Russia's defense ministry says more than 800 drones were fired into more than several regions of Russia on Sunday, the vast majority of which were targeting Moscow. That said, most of the deaths occurred closer to the Ukrainian border, including in Rostov in the south, where five people died Sunday. This morning, another six people were killed in Belgorod region. More generally, these attacks fit into a pattern of Ukraine hitting or attempting to hit, anyway, not only military installations, but also softer targets, energy and logistics hubs to, as Kyiv puts it, bring the war home to Russians.
MARTIN: And how is that being felt in real terms?
MAYNES: Well, Ukraine struck another warehouse of Russia's largest online retailer, a company called Wildberries, which is part of a wider campaign of interrupting business supply chains. Ukraine continues to strike oil facilities, which, by the way, has caused the return of gas shortages we saw earlier in the summer. There are lines right now, for example, at a gas station just down the street from me, and Ukraine is going after defense-adjacent industries, you know, factories that produce parts or products that might in some way contribute or help fund the Russian military. And all of this has come with a growing number of civilian casualties.
MARTIN: And how has Russia responded?
MAYNES: Well, by escalating, which, of course, is also killing civilians, including seven on Sunday, Russia can essentially strike Ukraine at will with ballistic missiles now that Ukraine is out of the U.S. Patriot missiles that had provided some protection, as Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has openly admitted. Moreover, Russia is increasingly targeting Ukrainian grain stores, a key export for Ukraine. And that's really brought shipping out of port cities like Odesa to a standstill and raised concerns of a repeat of global grain shortages that we saw earlier in the war as a result.
MARTIN: So Russia pounding Ukraine - that's been a story throughout this war. But Ukraine hitting back and hitting back effectively is relatively new. Now we hear from our colleagues in Kyiv that the goal is to force Russia into peace negotiations. Do you have any sense that that's working?
MAYNES: Well, politically, no. The Kremlin continues to insist this war is being won. In fact, President Vladimir Putin was recently on television talking about how Russians had victory in their DNA. But there's no question that what Ukraine euphemistically calls long-range sanctions have brought the war home to Russians in new ways, and that's adding to exhaustion from more than four years of war, repression and sanctions.
MARTIN: And so, of course, they are exhausted by war, but is there any way to express that, given the repression that you have reported on so often that you're mentioning now?
MAYNES: Well, you know, we have parliamentary elections coming up in September, and some form of opposition to the war would seem a potent political issue, but it's not on the ballot. The lone openly pro-peace party, a party called Yabloko, was barred from participating by the supreme court earlier this month, even as its supporters gathered outside.
Meanwhile, one of the party's liberal stalwarts, a man by the name of Lev Schlosberg, is widely expected to be convicted and sentenced to a long prison term today. The formal charge against Schlosberg is denigrating the Russian army, although his supporters would say he's being punished for his pacifism and that his case is just another version of the same message - that anti-war views won't be tolerated.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Charles, thank you.
MAYNES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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