Ukraine says Russia fired record 728 drones in overnight attack

Russia fired a record 728 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, as well as 13 missiles, the Ukrainian air force said on Wednesday, in the latest escalation amid mounting Russian aerial and ground attacks in the more than three-year war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the city of Lutsk, which lies in Ukraine’s northwest along the border with Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions were also struck.

Lutsk is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army. Cargo planes and fighter jets routinely fly over the city. No casualties were immediately reported, as emergency crews continued to assess the damage.

Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences by launching massive aerial assaults, including adding more decoy drones to its attacks. Russia launched its previous largest aerial assault late in the night of July 4, into the following day, with the biggest before that occurring less than a week earlier.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that its forces have captured the village of Tolstoi, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

In a statement, the ministry also said that it had hit Ukrainian military airfields in strikes overnight.