NATO fighter jets were scrambled overnight as Vladimir Putin pounded Ukraine with 500 drones and missiles.
Children were reportedly among the casualties after waves of the weapons terrorised civilian and energy targets around the country.
ReutersA firefighter at the site of an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, overnight[/caption]
ReutersResidents outside their apartment building struck by the attacks[/caption]
ReutersA blaze rips through a residential block in Zaporizhzhia[/caption]
Polish and other Allied warplanes took to the skies around Ukraine’s border – owing to the ferocity of the Russian onslaught.
The aerial bombardment included Putin’s nuclear-capable strategic Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers.
Russia unleashed dozens of Iskander-M, Iskander-K, Kalibr, Kh-59 and Kh-101 missiles – as well as hundreds of killer Shahed drones.
In total, there were 537 strike drones and 45 missiles – one of the heaviest bombardments of the war.
Ukrainian defences took out 548 of the 582 incoming strikes, but still suffered major damage in some areas.
A statement from Warsaw’s armed forces operational command said: “In connection with another attack by the Russian Federation striking objects on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace.”
One person was killed on the ground in Ukraine, with at least 22 injured – including three children.
Fires broke out, and power outages recorded.
Residential buildings were ablaze in Dnipro city, and gas systems were struck in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region.
The attacks come at the end of a week which has seen dozens slaughtered in what Volodymyr Zelensky described as “vile” strikes.
The Ukrainian president said the ongoing bloodbath is “demonstrating Putin’s true intentions – to continue killings, not to take steps towards peace”.
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