Russia fired a record 728 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, as well as 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said Wednesday, in the latest escalation after weeks of mounting Russian aerial and ground attacks in the more than three-year war.
The city of Lutsk, which lies in Ukraine’s northwest along the border with Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions were also struck, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Lutsk is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army. Cargo planes and fighter jets routinely fly over the city. Western regions of Ukraine are a crucial logistical backbone in the war, as airfields and depots there receive vital foreign military aid before forwarding it to other parts of the country. Russian long-range attacks have increasingly sought to disrupt those supply corridors.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces took aim at Ukrainian air bases and that “all the designated targets have been hit.”
Russia has recently tried to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses by launching massive aerial assaults, including adding more decoy drones to its attacks. Russia launched its previous largest aerial assault late in the night of July 4 into the following day, with the biggest prior to that occurring less than a week earlier.
Russia’s bigger army has also launched a new drive to punch through parts of the 620-mile front line, where short-handed Ukrainian forces are under heavy strain.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s “not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hasn’t budged from his ceasefire and peace demands since Trump took office in January and began to push for a settlement.
Trump said Monday that the U.S. would have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after Washington paused critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv amid uncertainty over the U.S. administration’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Trump “has quite a tough style in terms of the phrasing he uses,” adding that Moscow hopes to “continue our dialogue with Washington and our course aimed at repairing the badly damaged bilateral ties.”
Zelenskyy said that the Kremlin was “making a point” with the overnight attack on western parts of Ukraine, as U.S.-led peace efforts flounder. He urged Ukraine’s partners to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil and those who help finance the Kremlin’s war by buying it.
“Everyone who wants peace must act,” Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian leader was due to meet Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday during a visit to Italy.
