Russia launches large-scale drone attack across Ukraine

Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on Saturday night, causing civilian casualties across Ukraine, official have said.

Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said a “record” 267 Russian drones were launched in a single, coordinated attack.

Among them, 138 were intercepted by air defence while 119 disappeared from radars after being jammed and did not cause any damage.

While many were repelled, emergency services reported drone strikes causing destruction and fires in a number of regions overnight.

The strike comes a day before the third anniversary of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It is not clear how many people have died, but initial figures from emergency services suggest there were at least three casualties.

Two people died in a strike on a residential building in Kherson, in southern Ukraine – a man and a mother of twins, the Ukrainian state emergency services said.

Regional authorities also confirmed that one man died and at least three were wounded following a strike on the central city of Kryvyi Rih.

Meanwhile, a 53-year-old woman was hospitalised after being injured in a drone attack in Zaporizhzhia, and firefighters were called to extinguish multiple fires in the capital, Kyiv.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Kltischko wrote on Telegram that the multi-wave drone attacks on the capital had damaged several houses and cars but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Drones were intercepted in at least 13 regions including Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Mykolayiv and Odesa, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The Ukrainian air force also reported that Russia launched three ballistic missiles overnight.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that 20 Ukrainian drones launched into Russia were “destroyed” overnight.