Russia has targeted eight regions of Ukraine in the latest night-time barrage of drones and missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, with local authorities reporting that more than 20 civilians, including three children, were wounded.
Russian forces sent 524 combat drones and fired 22 ballistic and cruise missiles, Zelensky said.
The city of Dnipro and the surrounding central region of Ukraine bore the brunt of the attacks, officials said.
The barrage continued a recent spiral of long-range strikes that have escalated since a May 9-11 ceasefire, which United States President Donald Trump said he had requested from Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but which has had little impact. There are no signs that a peace deal is in the works despite U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the Russian invasion.
Russia attacked Ukraine for several days last Sunday, leveling an apartment building in Kiev, killing 24 people.
One of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia has killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen, authorities said Sunday.
In more than four years of war, Ukraine has built up its own long-range capabilities. It has targeted oil facilities that are a vital part of the Russian economy, as well as other targets deep inside Russia, drawing the attention of the Russian public. That has increased pressure on Putin, whose army is struggling to make progress on the battlefield, and who earlier this month claimed, without providing evidence, that the war was nearing an end.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 1.000 Ukrainian drones had been shot down or disrupted in the previous 24 hours, with about 80 on their way to Moscow.
In another significant improvement to Ukraine's long-range arsenal, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said today that the first Ukrainian glider has been developed - a powerful weapon with a devastating effect that Russia regularly uses.
The Ukrainian version carries a 250-kilogram warhead to hit fortifications, command posts and other targets dozens of kilometers behind the front line, he said. Ukrainian pilots are being trained in combat conditions for the new weapon.
Zelensky claims that a significant change is taking place: "Our long-range capabilities are significantly changing the situation - and, more broadly, the world's perception of the Russian war," he said late Sunday night.
"Many of our partners are now signaling that they see for themselves what is happening and how everything has changed – both in attitudes towards this war and in the accessibility of Russian targets on Russian territory," he said.
At the same time, Russian air strikes are straining Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow announced today that it had dealt a massive blow to Ukraine last night with precision land and sea-based missiles and drones, striking weapons factories, oil and energy facilities, as well as transport and port infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces. It said the aim of the attack had been achieved and that all the intended targets had been hit.
The Ukrainian Navy claimed that a Russian drone hit a Chinese-owned cargo ship in the Black Sea near Odessa today. The drone hit the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship KSL Deyang, it said on Telegram.
The ship is owned by China and the crew consists of Chinese nationals, the Navy said.
There was no immediate information about casualties or the extent of damage to the ship.
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