NATO fighter jets were scrambled overnight as Vladimir Putin pounded Ukraine with 500 drones and missiles.
Children were reportedly among the casualties after waves of the weapons terrorised civilian and energy targets around the country.
ReutersA firefighter at the site of an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, overnight[/caption]
ReutersResidents outside their apartment building struck by the attacks[/caption]
ReutersA blaze rips through a residential block in Zaporizhzhia[/caption]
Polish and other Allied warplanes took to the skies around Ukraine’s border – owing to the ferocity of the Russian onslaught.
The aerial bombardment included Putin’s nuclear-capable strategic Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers.
Russia unleashed dozens of Iskander-M, Iskander-K, Kalibr, Kh-59 and Kh-101 missiles – as well as hundreds of killer Shahed drones.
In total, there were 537 strike drones and 45 missiles – one of the heaviest bombardments of the war.
Ukrainian defences took out 548 of the 582 incoming strikes, but still suffered major damage in some areas.
A statement from Warsaw’s armed forces operational command said: “In connection with another attack by the Russian Federation striking objects on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace.”
One person was killed on the ground in Ukraine, with at least 22 injured – including three children.
Fires broke out, and power outages recorded.
Residential buildings were ablaze in Dnipro city, and gas systems were struck in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region.
Some ten rockets hit Dnipro in 15 minutes, according to reports.
The attacks come at the end of a week which has seen dozens slaughtered in what Volodymyr Zelensky described as “vile” strikes.
On one night, 25 civilians were killed in Kyiv, and the British Council building was hit in the capital.
The Ukrainian president said the ongoing bloodbath is “demonstrating Putin’s true intentions – to continue killings, not to take steps towards peace”.
Zelensky also reminded the world of Trump’s deadline for deciding on new measures against Russia if Putin fails to commit to a one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
East2WestParts of the Dnipropetrovsk region were a smouldering wreck this morning[/caption]
East2WestUkraine in retaliation hit the Krasnodar Oil Refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region[/caption]
He said: “Two weeks will be on Monday. And we will remind everybody.”
He said that Moscow had used time when they were supposed to be preparing for a meeting between leaders of the two countries to launch new massive attacks.
The president wrote on X on Saturday: “The only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself banking and energy sanctions.”
A date for a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin is still yet to be set.
Ukraine for its part struck two key Russian oil refineries – crucial parts of Putin’s military machine – with both seen ablaze on Saturday.
Ukraine also launched a “massive attack” with air and sea drones on occupied Crimea.
ReutersA resident holds his a cat near his apartment building[/caption]
APA police officer inspects fragments of the Russian rocket[/caption]
Britain’s Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, this week over the strikes in Kyiv.
Kelin said: “For my part, I will remind the British that the military carries out carefully calibrated and highly accurate strikes only on military targets and facilities that are associated with them.”
“I must say that one such facility of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex is in close proximity to the British Council building. It is literally across the street.
“As far as I understand from here, it was successfully hit.”
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