Russia pummelled Ukraine with its largest missile and drone attack in more than three years of war, claiming to have targeted an airfield in a region bordering EU and NATO member Poland. The latest strike beat a previous Russian record of 550 drones and missiles set last week. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia attacked with 728 drones and 13 missiles, and its air defence systems intercepted 711 drones and destroyed seven missiles.
“This is a telling attack—and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media. “Our partners know how to apply pressure in a way that will force Russia to think about ending the war, not launching new strikes,” Zelensky added.
Kyiv has repeatedly accused China of supplying parts and technologies central to the Russian drone and missile program, and urged the West to step up penalties.
The Russian defence ministry said its ‘long-range’ and ‘precision’ strike had targeted military airfield infrastructure claiming that “all designated targets were destroyed.” Russia’s latest record barrage comes just after the United States U-turned on an announcement that it would reduce some weapons supplies to Ukraine.
“It is quite telling that Russia carried out this attack just as the United States publicly announced that it would supply us with weapons,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on social media.
A representative of Ukraine’s Air Force said new Ukrainian drones had played an important role in thwarting the Russian attack. Another official said most of the drones launched were decoys.
The Russian defence ministry announced the capture of another village, Tolstoy, on Wednesday in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed as part of Russia since 2022, despite not fully controlling it.
