Russia attacked Ukraine with a 728 drone record during the night, hours after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, committed to send more defensive weapons to kyiv and direct unusually hard criticism to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The attack was the last of a series of air attacks in recent weeks that have involved hundreds of drones, in addition to ballistic missiles, testing Ukrainian aerial defenses at a dangerous moment of war, now in their fourth year.
kyiv’s army knocked down almost all drones, but some of the six hypersonic missiles launched by Russia caused unpleasant damage, said Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, on Ukrainian television.
President Volodimir Zelenski, who will meet with the United States envoy, Keith Kellogg, in Rome on Wednesday, said the attack showed the need for “scathing sanctions” to the sources of income that Russia uses to finance the war, including those who buy Russian oil.
Trump said Tuesday that he was considering supporting a bill that would impose strong sanctions to Russia, including 500% tariffs on nations that buy oil, gas, uranium and other Russian exports.
“Putin throws us a lot of shit (…) is very kind all the time, but it turns out that it makes no sense,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
When a reporter asked him what action he would take against Putin, Trump said: “I wouldn’t tell you. We want to have a little surprise.”
On the other hand, Europe is working on a new sanctions package against Moscow.
Trump, who returned to power this year promising a rapid end to war in Ukraine, has adopted a more conciliatory tone towards Moscow in a departure from the firm support of the Biden Administration to kyiv.
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Russia attacks Ukraine with 700 drones after Trump promises to send more weapons
But the initial rounds of conversations between Russia and Ukraine to end the invasion of the Kremlin of February 2022 have so far given few fruits, and Moscow has not yet accepted the unconditional fire proposed by Trump and accepted by kyiv.
The promise of the president of the United States to supply more defensive weapons seemed to reverse a decision of the Pentagon days before stopping some supplies of critical ammunition to Ukraine, despite the growing Russian attacks that have killed dozens of people in recent weeks.
Shortly after Wednesday’s attack, German Foreign Minister Friedrich Merz said that diplomatic means had been exhausted to solve the war. He promised to continue supporting kyiv.
After Trump’s new promise, Zelenski said Tuesday that he had ordered an expansion of contacts with the United States to guarantee critical deliveries of military supplies, mainly air defense.
kyiv residents and other important cities spent the night in anti -aircraft shelters, including subway stations.
Part of Russia’s night attack was aimed at a western region near Poland, NATO member. The northwestern city of Lutsk, about 200 kilometers from Poland, was the main objective, said Zelenskiy, listing another 10 provinces of Ukraine where damage were also reported.
Poles and allied airplanes were activated to guarantee air security, said the Polish army.
In Lutsk, the buildings were damaged, but not reported dead or injured in what is equivalent to the largest air attack in the city of 200,000 inhabitants, regional authorities said.
A storage installation of a local company and some parking structures were on fire, said the mayor of the city, Ihor Polishchuk.
Ivan Rudnytskyi, governor of the Volyn region, which includes Lutsk, said 50 Russian drones and five missiles were in the airspace of the region during the night.
With Reuters information.
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