Russia hit Ukraine with barrage of drones and missiles on Saturday night, killing three civilians and injuring dozens, Kyiv officials said.
Moscow launched 619 drones, including 579 strike drones, eight ballistic missiles and 32 cruise missiles during the overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force said in a briefing. Overall, 583 Russian aerial targets were shot down by the Ukrainian air defences.
“All night Ukraine was under a massive attack by Russia. The enemy aimed at our infrastructure, residential areas and civilian enterprises, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a social media post. The attacks targeted Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, Zelenskiy said, adding that "residential areas and civilians facilities" were struck.
“Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorize civilians and destroy our infrastructure,”Zelenskiy said, while also urging “strong international response”.
Among the targeted civilian infrastructure is a high-rise building in eastern Dnipro region where three people were killed. Eyewitness video posted in social media shows a drone hittig the building and erupting into a ball of flames.
The wave of Russian air strikes came shortly after NATO voiced alarm over Russia’s violation of Estonia’s airspace the previous day. Three Russian fighter jets were intercepted over NATO-member Estonia, just days after Russia’s incursion into Romania’s and Poland’s airspace. Russia denied that its jets violated Estonia’s airspace.
