A massive Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other regions in the country for a second consecutive night, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, officials said early Sunday.
The scale of the onslaught was stunning — Russia hit Ukraine with 367 drones and missiles, making this the largest single aerial attack of the more than three-years-long war, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force.
In all, Russia used 69 missiles of various types and 298 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed drones, he told The Associated Press.
It was “the most massive strike in terms of the number of air attack weapons on the territory of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022,” Ihnat said.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Sunday’s attack on the Ukrainian capital coincided with Kyiv Day, a national holiday that falls on the last Sunday of May commemorating its founding in the 5th century.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the United States, which has taken a softer public line on Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, since President Donald Trump took office, to speak out.
“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defence units intercepted and destroyed 110 Ukrainian drones over the country’s regions on Sunday, adding that there were no casualties or damage.
This comes as Ukraine and Russia prepared to conduct the third and final day of a prisoner swap in which both sides will exchange a total of 1000 people each.
