Ukraine says Russia launched largest drone, missile attack of war

KYIV, Ukraine: Russia pummelled Ukraine early on Wednesday with its largest missile and drone attack in more than three years of war, claiming to have targeted an airfield in a region bordering Poland.

The strikes came after US President Donald Trump said he would ramp up arms deliveries to Ukraine and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of spouting “bullshit” on Ukraine.

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions ringing out and drones buzzing over the capital during the barrage after air raid sirens sounded.

The latest strike, which regional officials said had killed one civilian in the Khmelnytsky region, beat a previous Russian record of firing 550 drones and missiles at Ukraine set last week.

The air force announced that Russia attacked with 728 drones and 13 missiles, specifying that 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. Zelensky, who was visiting Rome and met with Pope Leo XIV, called for Ukraine’s allies to step up sanctions on Russia, particularly on its energy sector -- an important revenue stream for the Russian war chest.

“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 programme, and urged the West to step up secondary penalties.

On Wednesday, Kyiv’s security services announced it had detained two Chinese nationals accused of attempting to smuggle missile technology out of the war-torn country.

The air force and regional authorities said that Wednesday’s attack had primarily targeted Lutsk, a town in western Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said its “long-range” and “precision” strike had targeted military airfield infrastructure claiming that “all designated targets were destroyed”. There was no response to that claim in Kyiv.

Russia’s latest record barrage points to a trend of escalating attacks that have piled pressure on Ukraine’s thinly stretched air defence capabilities and exhausted civilian population.

A representative of Ukraine’s air force said that new Ukrainian drones had played an important role in thwarting the Russian attack. Another official said that most of the Russian drones launched were decoys.

Two rounds of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since Trump returned to the White House have resulted in an increase in prisoner exchanges but no progress on securing a ceasefire, proposed by the United States and Ukraine.