Russia Launches Largest Air Attack

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – War-fatigued residents tried to recover Sunday after Russia fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight, killing several people in a barrage that Kyiv called “the biggest air attack” of the three-year armed conflict.

Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that Russia “had fired 477 drones and decoys as well as 60 missiles overnight.”

While 475 of these were shot down or lost, the onslaught marked the “most massive airstrike” on the country since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, noted Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine’s air force.

The bombing appeared to target several regions far from the frontline, he added, including in western Ukraine. The Russian army said on Sunday its overnight attack hit Ukrainian military-industrial complex sites and oil refineries, and that it had intercepted three Ukrainian drones overnight.

However, at least six people died in the strikes, officials explained. Three were reportedly killed in drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Another person was killed in Kostyantynivka, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region, authorities said.

Critics argued that the scale of the attacks called into question comments made on Friday by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he said Moscow was ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Sunday that the barrage of bombs showed that Putin had decided to pursue war. “Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

RUSSIA ATTACKS

In the past week alone, Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than 114 missiles, more than 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs, he said.

“This war must be brought to an end – pressure on the aggressor is needed, and so is protection,” he stressed. “Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defence – the thing that best protects lives.”

He reiterated Ukraine’s willingness to buy U.S. air defence systems, adding that his country counted on the “leadership, political will, and support of the United States, Europe, and all our partners”.

However, Ukraine’s air force said an F-16 warplane supplied by its western partners had crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets, killing the pilot. “The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude,” the air force said on Telegram.

The pilot did not have time to eject, it added. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree to posthumously award the late F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, the Order of the Gold Star.

Trump also passed on his condolences to the pilot’s family and brothers-in-arms. An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of his death.

Local officials in Ukraine said that among the victims of Russia’s air strikes were two people killed, while at least 12 were injured, including two children.

RAID SIRENES

As air raid sirens rang out across the country, residents in Kyiv took refuge in bomb shelters and metro stations. At the same time, in the city of Drohobych, in the western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility after a drone attack that cut electricity to parts of the city.

Witnesses and regional governors said explosions were heard in Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, and the Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

Russia’s escalating campaign comes as talks on ending the fighting remain primarily at an impasse. Two recent rounds between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul yielded no progress.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s presidential website said the country had begun the process of withdrawing from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said on social media that parliamentary approval was still needed. “This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,” he said.

“Russia is not a party to this convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians. We cannot remain tied down in an environment where the enemy has no restrictions.”

In recent months, and to an outcry from anti-mine campaigners, five European countries have announced similar plans to withdraw from the 1997 landmark mine ban treaty, citing concerns about the growing threat of Russia.

The latest developments underscored the cruelty of the war in which more than a million people are believed to have been killed or injured.

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