LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia launched around 550 munitions into the country overnight in Moscow’s latest deadly long-range barrage.
Zelenskyy said that at least five people were killed and 10 injured across Ukraine. Impacts were reported in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa and Kirovohrad regions, the president wrote in a Telegram post.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 496 drones and 53 missiles of various types. Defenders downed or suppressed 439 drones and 39 missiles, the air force said, with eight other missiles failing to reach their targets.
Eight missiles and 57 drones impacted across 20 locations, the air force said, with debris reported falling at six locations.
“Today the Russians again struck our infrastructure, everything that ensures a normal life for people,” Zelenskyy said.
“More protection is needed, faster implementation of all defense agreements, especially regarding air defense, to make this aerial terror meaningless,” he added.
“A unilateral ceasefire in the sky is possible, and it could open the way to real diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said. “America and Europe must act to force Putin to stop.”
The strikes were concentrated in western Ukraine. In the city of Lviv close to the Polish border, at least four people were killed and four others injured, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (DSNS).
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi reported “a very tough night” in a post to Telegram, saying the buildings hit included an industrial park to the west of the city center.
“Russians terrorized the region for over five hours with combined strikes,” the DSNS reported.
In western Ivano-Frankivsk and western-central Vinnytsia region, Russian strikes hit civilian and critical infrastructure facilities, local officials said.
Elsewhere, at least one person was killed and 10 injured in the southern frontline Zaporizhzhia region.
Gov. Ivan Fedorov said in a post to Telegram that Russian munitions damaged gas pipelines, residential homes and other buildings. Over 73,000 customers were left without power supply, Fedorov said.
A strike on critical infrastructure was also reported in Chernihiv, close to the Belarusian and Russian borders northeast of Kyiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the attack as “a massive strike with long-range precision-guided weapons of ground, sea and air-based deployment,” targeting what it said were “enterprises of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the gas and energy infrastructure facilities that supported their operations.”
Among the platforms employed were Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles and strike drones, the ministry said. “The strike objectives have been achieved,” it said in a post to Telegram. “All designated targets have been struck.”
The Russian attacks prompted the scrambling of NATO jets across the border in Poland.
Poland’s Operational Command said in social media posts that fighters were deployed and air defense units put on alert as “the Russian Federation once again carried out strikes on targets located in the territory of Ukraine.”
The alert lasted for around four hours. Dutch F-35 jets were among those responding, a later statement said. “No violations of Polish airspace were observed,” the command said.
Russia’ Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 62 Ukrainian drones overnight and through Sunday morning.
Temporary flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl, Russia’s federal air transport agency — Rosaviatsiya — said.
ABC News’ Nataliia Popova, Fidel Pavlenko and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
The post Zelenskyy calls for US, European aid after deadly Russia bombardment appeared first on ABC News.
