Russian Air Attack on Kyiv on August 2, 2023. What does it have in common with London during World War II?

This was the 820th aerial attack by the Russians on Kyiv since the beginning of the large-scale invasion. During the attack, Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense forces shot down 15 kamikaze drones. Prior to this, the Russian army had been bombarding Kyiv with ballistic and cruise missiles, including aeroballistic "Kinzhals" and Iranian "Shahed" kamikaze drones. During one of these bombardments, the Russians killed a couple – the husband, his wife, and their unborn child, as the woman was pregnant. The Russian army is killing not only adults, the elderly, and children in Ukraine but also the unborn.

The final phase of the Russian drone attack began at the start of the third hour of the night. The night sky was split by red tracer rounds. It was a crossfire from multiple positions. If it weren't for the war, I would have said it was beautiful. Searchlights tried to catch the flying kamikaze drones in the darkness. While machine gun bursts tried to catch up with the drone, a launched missile met it head-on, precisely hitting the frontal part of the unmanned aircraft. 50 kilograms of explosives and fuel in the Iranian "Shahed" with the Russian label "Geran-2" detonated very close – higher and to the right. For a second, a bright flash of white light flooded the surroundings, similar to lightning turning the dark night into a bright day during a storm. In the night sky, a fireball emerged, with dozens of falling and burning meteors descending to the ground. The shockwave struck like a drumbeat. On the ground, car alarms were triggered by the impact. In the night sky, a lighter-than-complete darkness cloud of explosive gases hung for a while, gradually dissipating into the air.

I have read before about beautiful and great cities in the world that suffered terrible aerial bombings. For example, the bombing of Barcelona by the Nazis or Hitler's strikes on Belgrade after the overthrow of the royal family, which collaborated with the Nazis. Hitler called these events a "putsch" and inflicted devastating air strikes on Belgrade. The capital of Yugoslavia was ablaze. Like Hitler, Putin also referred to the escape of the pro-Russian Yanukovych from Ukraine as a "putsch" and began the war with the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The cities in the world destroyed by hostile armies from the air had a common trait: they were defenseless. These cities were not saved from destruction by modern barbarians, neither their beauty nor the historical value of many buildings and monuments. The only thing the residents of these cities could do was curse their enemies who dropped bombs on their heads. They lacked effective air defense systems, which was a huge tragedy.

London, Liverpool, Belfast, Birmingham, and dozens of other cities in Britain were also bombed and destroyed. Houses, cafes, barracks, factories, and ports were set on fire. Britain was also targeted with ballistic missiles by the enemy. But the British fought in the night sky and shot down everything they could.

On the historical scale of aerial attacks on cities in the world, Kyiv and London belong to the same order, sharing the same values, capabilities, and strength.

Thanks to the Ukrainian air defense. It's an inspiring sight to see all these elements of the aerial dome – tracers, searchlights, and missiles transforming enemy tubes with wings, packed with dozens of kilograms of explosives, into gaseous state fiery balls in the dark sky right before our eyes.

The creators of "Star Wars" could film the next episode of the epic in Ukraine. The millions saved on sets and computer graphics could be invested in strengthening the Ukrainian air defense.

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