KYIV: Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks as Moscow intensifies its aerial and ground assault in the three-year war, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses by launching major attacks that include increasing numbers of decoy drones. The most recent one appeared aimed at disrupting Ukraine’s vital supply of Western weapons.
Lutsk, a city that's home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, was the hardest hit, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It lies near the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid.
The attack comes at a time of increased uncertainty over the supply of crucial American weapons and as U.S.-led peace efforts have stalled. Zelenskyy said that the Kremlin was “making a point” with its barrage.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces took aim at Ukrainian air bases and that “all the designated targets have been hit.” Meanwhile, Ukraine fired drones into Russia overnight, killing three people in the Kursk border region, including a 5-year-old boy, the local governor said.
The Russian attack, which included 728 drones and 13 missiles, had the largest number of drones fired in a single night in the war. On Friday, Russia fired 550 drones, less than a week after it launched 477, both the largest at the time, officials said.
Beyond Lutsk, 10 regions were struck. One person was killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, and two wounded in the Kyiv region, officials said.
Poland, a member of NATO, scrambled its fighter jets and put its armed forces on the highest level of alert in response to the attack, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command wrote in an X post.
Russia's bigger army has also launched a new drive to punch through parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where short-handed Ukrainian forces are under heavy strain.
Strikes kill at least two
The strikes on Kyiv killed at least two people, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, with around a dozen wounded.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard loud blasts echoing over the city throughout the night and saw flashes from the air defence system lighting up the sky.
"The enemy's massive night attack on Kyiv region lasted for almost 10 hours," Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv region's military administration chief, wrote on Telegram.
"The enemy used strike drones and missiles against peaceful settlements."
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the capital's military administration, said two people were killed in the Russian attack. He earlier said 13 people were wounded.
Dozens of residents of the capital took shelter overnight in a central metro station, an AFP reporter said, sleeping on mats, calming pets and waiting out the attack on camping furniture.
The Kyiv city military administration had warned of a "threat of enemy use of ballistic weapons", and Ukraine's air force said "a group of missiles" had approached Kyiv from the east.
Ukraine's air alert warning was lifted later Thursday morning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris sparked fires at buildings in the capital districts of Solomyansky and Shevchenkivsky.
In another district, Darnytsky, falling drone debris caused fires at garages and a gas station.
Three people were also wounded in Russian strikes in southern Kherson, according to the region's military administration.
