Russia has struck Ukraine with its greatest attack on missiles and drones in more than three years of war, claiming to have targeted an aerodrome in a region bordering the EU and NATO Poland.
The strike comes after us, Donald Trump, said that he would increase arms deliveries to Ukraine and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of talking about “bullshit” on Ukraine.
AFP journalists in kyiv heard explosions ringing and drones buzzing on the capital during the dam after the sirens of the air raids resounded.
The last strike, which, according to regional officials, killed a civilian in the Khmelnytsky region, broke a previous Russian record of 550 drones and missiles established last week.
Learn more: Trump accuses Putin of talking about “bullshit” on Ukraine
The Air Force said that Russia had attacked 728 drones and 13 missiles, adding that its air defense systems had intercepted 711 drones and destroyed seven missiles.
“This is a revealing attack-and this comes precisely at a time when so much effort was made to achieve peace, to establish a cease-fire, and yet only Russia continues to repel them,” wrote President Volodyr Zelensky on social networks.
Zelensky, who arrived in Rome for meetings with the Pope and the President, called on the Allies to intensify sanctions against Russia, targeting in particular its energy sector – a significant source of income for the trunk of the Russian war.
“Our partners know how to exert pressure in a way that will force Russia to think of putting an end to war, not to launch new strikes,” added Zelensky.
kyiv has repeatedly accused China of providing parts and technologies at the center of the Russian drone and missile program, and urged the West of intensifying secondary sanctions.
Also read: Russia claims 120 Ukrainian drones slaughtered during the night near border regions
On Wednesday, Kyiv security services announced that he had held two Chinese nationals accused of having tried to pass the missile technology outside the country torn by the war.
Igor Polishchuk, the mayor of the western city of Lutsk whose surrounding region borders Poland, said that fires had broken out in a “business”, but that no one had been killed or injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its “long -range” and “precision” strike had targeted the military aerodrome infrastructure claiming that “all the designated targets have been destroyed”. There was no response to this statement to Kyiv.
The last Russian record dam intervened just after the United States turned around on an announcement that this would reduce certain arms supplies in Ukraine.
“It is quite indicative that Russia has led this attack when the United States has publicly announced that it would provide us with weapons,” wrote on the social networks of the Ukrainian president.
A representative of Ukraine’s Air Force said that new Ukrainian drones had played an important role in annoying the Russian attack. Another official said that most of the drones launched were lures.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that he was not imperturbable about Trump’s comments on Putin.
Learn more: Putin tells Trump that Russia will not abandon the objectives in Ukraine: Kremlin
“Let’s just say that Trump in general has a fairly hard rhetorical style in terms of sentences he uses,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Two cycles of direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations since Trump returned to the White House led to an increase in prisoner exchanges, but no progress in the guarantee of a cease-fire, proposed by the United States and Ukraine.
The Kremlin has since declared that for the moment, it has not seen any diplomatic path of the conflict, launched by Moscow in February 2022, and promised to pursue its war objectives – actually seeking to conquer Ukraine and to remove its political leadership.
Ukraine also sought to increase its own attacks on Russia, the Moscow Ministry of Defense, claiming on Wednesday that its air defense units had decreased 86 unmanned air vehicles, mainly in the country’s Western regions.
The exchange of wide air occurs while Russian forces slowly but regularly gain ground in the key sectors of the sprawling front line in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday the capture of another village, Tolstoy, in the Donetk Eastern region, which the Kremlin has claimed in the context of Russia since 2022, although it is not fully controlled.
Also read: General top of the Russian navy killed in Ukraine, says Moscow
Ukrainian prosecutors in the region said that Russian drones and bombing in two cities in Donetsk killed eight civilians on Wednesday.
The officials have published images showing the charred remains of two people who burned to death in their car, who, according to officials, was affected by a Russian drone.
A one -year -old boy was killed in a separate Russian attack in the village of Pravdyne in the southern region of Kherson, local officials announced.
