Russia launches over 200 drones and missiles at targets across Ukraine

Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including the capital, Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports.

President Zelenskyy said Russia deployed various types of drones, including Shaheds, cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian defence forces shot down 140 air targets, he said in a statement on Telegram.

It came on the 1,000 day of the war, according to the Associated Press, and was the most powerful attack in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Serhii Popko.

“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelenskky posted.

Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power generation capacity since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defences to counter assaults and allow for repairs.

Meanwhile the Operational Command of Poland’s military posted on X that:

“Due to the massive attack by the Russian Federation using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles on objects located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied aircraft have begun operating in our airspace.”