Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a massive Russian drone strike against Ukraine on Wednesday killed six people and injured dozens across the country. The attack took place soon after the ceasefire between the two sides ended.
The attack is one of the longest and largest in Russia’s war in Ukraine, Zelensky said.
“Since midnight, at least 800 Russian drones have already been launched, and the attack continues, additional drones are entering our country’s airspace,” he wrote on X.
Zelensky said the attack “deliberately targeted our railway infrastructure and civilian sites in our cities.”
According to Zelensky, the attacks overnight targeted Ukraine’s residential and railway infrastructure in the central Dnipro and northeastern Kharkiv regions, port infrastructure in the southern Odessa region, and energy facilities in the central Poltava region.
He said Ukraine’s western regions, which are closest to the borders of NATO countries, were targeted.
The Polish military said it had deployed fighter planes as a precaution due to Russian air attacks on Ukraine.
Attacks are happening as Trump and Xi meet
Zelensky condemned the attacks, saying it “cannot be called a coincidence” that the attack occurred at the same time as US President Donald Trump arrived in China for a high-profile state visit.
“At this difficult geopolitical moment, Russia is clearly trying to disrupt the overall political environment and draw attention to its evil – trying to do so at the expense of Ukrainian lives and Ukrainian infrastructure,” he wrote on X.
“It is important to support Ukraine and not be silent about Russia’s war. Every time the war disappears from the top of the news, it encourages Russia to become even more brutal,” Zelenskyy said, referencing the world’s attention drawn by the Iran war.
Before the attack on Tuesday, Trump said he believed Moscow and Kiev would soon reach an agreement to end the fighting. “I think the end of the war in Ukraine is coming very close indeed,” Trump told reporters as he departed for Beijing.
Drone use ‘evolving’ in Russia
Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to the defense minister, said the attack involved a large number of drones that were moving between 5 kilometers and 10 kilometers (between 3 and 6 miles) from the Belarus border with the aim of strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses and penetrating into western regions.
Beskrestnov said the attack highlighted Moscow’s growing use of drones, with tactics changing from attack to attack.
Despite thousands of people being killed in its attacks against Ukraine, Russia has denied deliberately attacking civilians. Moscow has said attacks on civilian infrastructure are legitimate if they weaken Ukraine’s fighting ability.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery