Russia fires over 600 drones, missiles in massive barrage targeting western Ukraine

Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, targeting the west of the country and killing at least four people in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania.

Russia fired 597 drones and decoys, along with 26 cruise missiles, into Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. 

The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles, adding that one missile and about 20 drones hit "five locations". It did not elaborate.

FRANCE 24's Emmanuelle Chaze on Russian drone attack © FRANCE 24

"Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were 'Shaheds'," Zelensky said, referring to Iranian-made drones. 

Zelensky called on his Western allies to send "more than just signals" to stop the war launched by Russia in February 2022. 

"The pace of Russian air strikes requires swift decisions and it can be curbed right now through sanctions," he said.

Zelensky specifically urged punishment for those who "help Russia produce drones and profit from oil".

Oil exports are important for the Russian economy especially in the face of existing Western sanctions.

Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said.

"Russia continues to escalate its terror, launching another barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging residential areas, killing and injuring civilians," Sybiha said in a post on X, reiterating the call for stronger sanctions against Moscow.

"Russia’s war machine produces hundreds of means of terror per day. Its scale poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire transatlantic community."

 Reporters © FRANCE 24 

Ruslan Zaparaniuk, the governor of the Chernivetskyi region, said that two people were killed and 14 others wounded as Russian drones and a missile struck the city, located about 40 kilometres (24 miles) from Ukraine's border with Romania.

Several fires broke out across the city, and residential houses and administrative buildings were damaged, regional officials said.

In the city of Lviv, on Ukraine's border with Poland, 46 residential houses, a university building, the city's courts, and about 20 buildings housing small and medium-sized businesses were damaged in the attack, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)