KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — In a significant escalation of hostilities, Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine to date, as reported by a Ukrainian official on Sunday. This attack is part of an ongoing bombing campaign that has further diminished hopes for an end to the nearly three-year conflict.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons, which included 477 drones and decoys, and 60 missiles. Of these, 249 were successfully intercepted and shot down, while 226 were lost, likely due to electronic jamming tactics employed by Ukrainian forces.
The scale of this assault has been described as “the most massive airstrike” since the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, encompassing various types of missiles along with the drone attacks. Yuriy Ihnat, the head of communications for Ukraine's air force, confirmed that multiple regions, including areas in western Ukraine far from the ongoing front lines, were targeted in this significant strike.
In Poland, the country’s air force scrambled aircraft to safeguard its airspace in response to the escalating situation. Reports indicate that one person was killed in the Kherson region due to a drone strike, and another fatality occurred in the Kharkiv region when a drone impacted a vehicle. Additionally, six individuals were injured in Cherkasy, including a child, as announced by local officials.
An explosion and subsequent large fire erupted at an industrial facility in Drohobych, located in the far-western Lviv region, following a drone attack that also caused power outages in parts of the city. The air force confirmed that one of its F-16 warplanes, provided by Western allies, crashed after sustaining damage while engaging enemy aerial threats, resulting in the pilot's death.
Furthermore, Russia's defense ministry claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian drones during the nighttime attacks. In a retaliatory drone strike, two individuals were reported injured in the city of Bryansk in western Russia, where authorities stated that seven Ukrainian drones were intercepted.
In a separate development, Russia declared on Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially occupied Donetsk region. Russian military forces have been making gradual territorial gains along the approximately 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, albeit at a substantial cost regarding troop casualties and damaged equipment.
The surge in attacks follows comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who suggested on Friday that Moscow is prepared to engage in a new round of direct peace negotiations in Istanbul. Nonetheless, the conflict shows no signs of resolution, as international efforts led by the U.S. have yet to yield any significant breakthroughs. Previous rounds of discussions between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul were brief and did not produce any meaningful progress toward a settlement.
Long-range drone strikes have become a defining feature of the ongoing conflict, with both sides racing to develop more sophisticated and lethal drone technologies, turning the war into a testing ground for advanced military weaponry.
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