KYIV: Russia targeted eight regions of Ukraine in its latest nighttime drone and missile barrage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, with local authorities reporting that the strikes wounded more than two dozen civilians, including three children.
Russian forces fired 524 attack drones and 22 ballistic and cruise missiles, Zelenskyy said. The city of Dnipro and the surrounding central region of Ukraine bore the brunt of the attack, officials said.
The barrage continued a recent spiral of long-range strikes that have grown in scale following a May 9-11 ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe but which had little impact. There is no sign a peace deal is taking shape despite U.S. diplomatic efforts to end Russia's invasion.
Russia hammered Ukraine over several days last week, flattening a Kyiv apartment building where 24 people died.
One of Ukraine's largest drone strikes on Russia killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen others, authorities said Sunday.
Ukraine develops its own glide bombs
In more than four years of war, Ukraine has built up its own long-range capabilities. It has been hitting oil facilities that represent a vital part of the Russian economy, as well as other targets deep inside Russia, making the Russian public take notice. That has increased the pressure on Putin, whose army is struggling to make progress on the battlefield and who claimed earlier this month, without providing evidence, that the war is approaching its end.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours, with around 80 on their way to Moscow.
In another significant enhancement of Ukraine's long-range arsenal, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Monday that the country has developed its first glide bomb — a powerful weapon that has regularly been deployed to devastating effect by Russia.
The Ukrainian version carries a 250-kilogram (550-pound) warhead and is designed to strike fortifications, command posts and other targets dozens of kilometers (miles) behind the front line, he said. Ukrainian pilots are currently training with the weapon under combat conditions.
Zelenskyy sees a deep change underway
Zelenskyy claims a significant shift is taking place.
"Our long-range capabilities are significantly changing the situation — and, more broadly, the world's perception of Russia's war," Zelenskyy said on X late Sunday. "Many partners are now signaling that they see what is happening and how everything has changed — both in attitudes toward this war and in the reachability of Russian targets on Russian territory."
At the same time, Russia's aerial onslaughts are stretching Ukraine's air defenses.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said Monday it had dealt Ukraine a massive blow overnight with precision ground- and sea-based missiles and drones, striking weapons factories, oil and energy facilities, as well as transport and port infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces. It said the goal of the strike had been achieved and all the designated targets had been hit.
Ukraine says Russia hits Chinese ship before Putin visits Beijing
Putin is due to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing this week. Cooperation between the two countries has deepened in recent years as many Western countries have sought to isolate the Russian leader, with China growing to become Russia's main trading partner.
In the meantime, Ukraine's navy claimed that a Russian drone struck a Chinese-owned cargo ship in the Black Sea near Odesa on Monday.
The drone hit the dry cargo vessel KSL Deyang, which was sailing under a Marshall Islands flag, the Ukrainian Navy said in a Telegram post. The ship's owner is based in China, and the crew consists of Chinese nationals, the navy said. There was no immediate word on casualties or the extent of damage to the vessel.