**In a dramatic display of military aggressiveness, Russia conducted its most significant airstrike salvo against Ukraine, emphasizing the war's ongoing turbulence.**
**Intensifying Conflict: Russia Launches Major Drone and Missile Assault on Ukraine**
**Intensifying Conflict: Russia Launches Major Drone and Missile Assault on Ukraine**
**Overnight strikes mark one of the largest escalations in air attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure.**
Russia intensified its assault on Ukraine overnight, unleashing hundreds of drones and missiles in what Ukrainian officials are calling one of the largest attacks of the ongoing conflict. Strikes were reported across various regions, including areas in western Ukraine that are typically less affected by such aggression.
The onslaught marks a troubling escalation in Russia's air offense strategy, with a record number of 537 drones and missiles launched in a single night, according to the Ukrainian Air Force—an unprecedented figure for the war thus far. This total includes numerous nonlethal decoy drones, a tactic that has increased in frequency over the past year, complicating Ukraine’s defense efforts as these drones work to mislead air defense systems.
While military experts note that the Ukrainian defense managed to intercept approximately 90% of these drones, it has faced greater challenges with the missiles, successfully shooting down only two-thirds of them. This shortfall included the failure to intercept six out of seven ballistic missiles fired during the attack.
Reports of civilian casualties are still pending, but among the military losses, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the death of a pilot operating an F-16 jet, who crashed while attempting to respond to the Russian strikes. With a strained ground-based air defense system, Ukraine relies heavily on its fighter jets to engage incoming threats, as the conflict continues to evolve in complexity and severity.
