KYIV — Russia hit Ukraine with 537 drones and missiles overnight Sunday in Moscow’s largest attack of the war, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
Ukraine shot down 475 of missiles and drones, the air force said, while one Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed in the action. It was the largest assault the Kremlin has unleashed since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion in early 2022.
The Russian attack started Saturday evening and continued for more than six hours, Ukrainian officials said. Drones and missiles targeted Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Kyiv, injuring a dozen people, destroying residential buildings and storage facilities, as well as critical infrastructure around the country, the officials said.
Neighboring Poland scrambled jets and activated its ground-based air defense units into readiness mode because of the attacks across the border in Ukraine.
Ukraine used its full arsenal to repel the attack, including combat aircraft, officials said. F-16 fighter jets provided by Western allies have become a key tool for defending against Russia’s missile attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said one F-16 pilot was killed. “Tragically, while repelling the attack, our F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, died. Today, he destroyed seven aerial targets,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Sunday.
“Ustymenko did everything possible, but his jet was damaged and started losing altitude, the air force added. “He died like a hero!”
Since the start of its summer offensive, Moscow has increased its attacks on Ukraine’s cities. “Just this week alone, there have been more than 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs,” Zelenskyy said. “Putin long ago decided he would keep waging war, despite the world’s calls for peace.”
The Ukrainian president renewed his calls for allies to help protect Ukraine and to pressure Moscow to end the war.
Ukraine needs protection “from ballistic and other missiles, from drones, and from terror,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine must strengthen its air defense — the thing that best protects lives. These are American systems, which we are ready to buy. We count on leadership, political will, and the support of the United States, Europe, and all our partners. I thank everyone who is helping,” Zelenskyy added.
Earlier this week, during a press conference in The Hague, after a verbal exchange with a Ukrainian journalist, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. needs Patriots too.
“They [Ukrainians] want to have the anti-missiles, as they call them … the Patriots,” Trump said. “And we’re going to see if we can make some available. They’re very hard to get. We need them too. We were supplying them to Israel, and they’re very effective. A hundred percent effective — hard to believe how effective,” Trump said.
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