Ukrainian firefighters and rescuers work at the site of a damaged storage facility following an overnight attack in Vasyshcheve, near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Monday. Photo by Sergey Kozlov/EPA-EFE
Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged deadly cross-border drone and missile attacks during the overnight hours Sunday into Monday morning despite international diplomatic efforts to end hostilities.
Ukrainian air defenses intercepted drone and missile targets throughout the nation after Russia launched nine cruise missiles and 355 attack drones at targets within Ukraine, ABC News reported.
Ukrainian forces shot down or neutralized all of the missiles and 288 drones, but five regions reported impacts from the attack drones, and 10 regions reported falling debris.
The Russian aerial assault “used the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post.
“Only a sense of complete impunity can allow Russia to carry out such strikes and constantly increase their scale,” Zelensky said.
“Like any criminal, Russia can only be brought to justice by force,” he added. “Only through force — the force of the United States, the force of Europe [and] the force of all nations that respect life – can we achieve a complete cessation of these attacks and real peace.”
During a phone call with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Zelensky said the aerial attacks mean Russian President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to end the war, according to an online announcement by the office of the President of Ukraine.
He said the missile and drone attacks also show the “importance of increasing international pressure on the Russian Federation” to end the war.
The aerial assault killed 13 in Ukraine, the BBC reported.
President Donald Trump called Russia’s aerial assault “crazy” in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
Trump said he’s always had a “good relationship” with Putin, but something has changed.
“He has gone absolutely crazy!” Trump said of Putin. “He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers.”
Trump said Russia had no reason to launch missiles and drones into Ukraine and accused Putin of wanting “all of Ukraine.”
He also accused Zelensky of “doing his country no favors by talking the way he does” and “everything out of the mouth” of the Ukrainian president “causes problems.”
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Trump’s comments an “emotional overload,” the BBC reported.
Peskov said the Russian aerial assault was done in retaliation for attacks on “social infrastructure” in Russia.
Russian air defenses also shot down 20 Ukrainian drones over Russian targets, Peskov said.
Regardless of the cause of the Russian aerial assault, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it gives Ukraine the green light to attack military targets deep inside Russia to defend itself, Bloomberg reported.
