Written by Lisa Murimi
Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial barrages on Ukraine overnight, killing at least three people and injuring dozens, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
According to Ukrainian officials, Russia fired around 580 drones and 40 missiles in a coordinated strike that targeted residential areas, manufacturing facilities, and energy infrastructure across multiple regions.
In the central city of Dnipro, a missile carrying cluster munitions struck an apartment building, killing one person and injuring at least 26.
Images shared on Telegram showed rescuers pulling residents from damaged flats, with shattered windows and collapsed roofs visible across the block.
Two additional fatalities were reported in Chernihiv in the north and Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, local authorities confirmed.
Ukraine’s air force said it managed to intercept 552 drones and 31 missiles, but many still penetrated air defences, further highlighting the intensity of the assault.
Analysts noted that Moscow has shifted tactics, increasingly launching swarms of drones numbering in the hundreds, compared to smaller-scale strikes earlier in the war.
Air raid alerts in some regions lasted more than 11 hours, with the attacks occurring in two distinct waves overnight. The strikes extended into Ukraine’s western border areas, prompting Poland to scramble allied fighter jets to secure its airspace.
Zelenskiy condemned the attack as a deliberate campaign of terror.
“Every such strike is not a military necessity but a strategy to destroy infrastructure and terrorize civilians,” he said, renewing his appeal for stronger Western sanctions on Moscow and additional air defence systems for Kyiv.
“Ukraine has proven it can defend itself and Europe, but for a reliable shield, we must act together,” he added.
