Russia launches record number of drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force says

Russia launched its largest drone strike against Ukraine, the country’s air force said on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 718 of the 728 drones, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Seven of the 13 missiles launched in the attack were also destroyed.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the drone attack overnight on Ukraine showed the need for “biting” sanctions on Russia.

He said the main strike targeted Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, and damage has also been reported in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

The Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv regions were also affected.

“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,” Zelenskyy said.

“This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions-biting sanctions against oil, which has been fuelling Moscow’s war machine with money for over three years of the war.”

The Ukrainian leader also called for secondary sanctions “on those who buy this oil and thereby sponsor killings”.