KYIV — Russia launched a huge barrage of missiles and drones against a broad swath of Ukrainian territory early Friday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 40 others.
The massive bombing was Moscow’s biggest attack on Ukraine since Kyiv’s daring “Spider Web” drone assault took out dozens of strategic bombers at Russian airfields on June 1.
“In total, over 400 drones and more than 40 missiles — including ballistic missiles — were used in today’s attack,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a morning statement. “They targeted almost all of Ukraine — Volyn, Lviv, Ternopil, Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv regions,” he said.
Ukraine’s air force said 452 drones and missiles were launched against the country, with airstrikes recorded in 13 locations, in an attack that lasted more than four hours. More than 400 of the drones and missiles were shot down or otherwise neutralized, the air force said.
All people killed in Friday’s attack were first responders, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. Local authorities reported massive destruction, electricity outages and victims in several Ukrainian regions.
“Russia must be held accountable for this,” Zelenskyy said. “Since the first minute of this war, they have been striking cities and villages to destroy life.”
In Kyiv, three people were killed and 20 were wounded. Ukrainian energy operator DTEK reported that more than 2,000 people were left without electricity. Overall, six districts of Kyiv were damaged.
In Ternopil, local authorities urged locals to close their windows as the attack hit energy infrastructure, filling the city with poisonous smoke. Five first responders were wounded.
“Part of Ternopil without electricity. Water pressure in the city is reduced due to power outages,” a local official said in a Telegram post. In Lutsk, Russians hit a residential building, injuring 15 people, local Governor Ivan Rudnytskyi said in a statement. More destruction was reported in the Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy regions.
In the wake of the huge attack, Zelenskyy called on Kyiv’s allies to put more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
“Now is exactly the moment when America, Europe and everyone around the world can stop this war together by pressuring Russia,” Zelenskyy said. “If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives, that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively,” he said.
Friday’s aerial assault was the largest attack since Ukraine’s “Spider Web” drone operation last Sunday, which destroyed or damaged dozens of Russia’s strategic bombers that Moscow has been using for airstrikes on Ukraine.
Ukraine bombed two additional strategic airfields in Russia’s Saratov and Ryazan regions on Thursday night, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army reported.
Russia used some of the surviving bombers to attack Ukraine in Friday’s assault. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken with Putin about the Ukrainian drone attack, and the Russian leader said he would respond.
“He told me he would need to attack back,” Trump said. “I said don’t do it, you should stop it,” the U.S. president told journalists at the White House on Tuesday.
Trump compared Ukraine and Russia to two young children fighting in a park. “They hate each other, and they are fighting in a park. Sometimes you’d better let them fight for a while and then pull them apart,” Trump said. He claimed the deadline for when to impose more sanctions on Russia is “in his brain.”
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