Russia launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion overnight on Sunday, firing a total of 537 aerial weapons, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Ukrainian forces intercepted 475 of the weapons, but the military said F-16 pilot Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko was killed 鈥渨hile repelling鈥 the 鈥渕assive enemy air attack鈥.
At least four others were also killed in the air raids, in Kherson, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kostiantynivka regions, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing local officials.
The aerial attacks were also far-reaching, targeting regions as far away as Lviv, in the far west, where a drone attack caused a large fire at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych, and cut electricity to parts of the area.
Poland said it scrambled aircraft, together with other NATO countries, to ensure the safety of Polish airspace during the attack. None of the Russian missiles entered Poland鈥檚 airspace, the command said.
In addition, two people were killed by Russian shelling, including a 70-year-old woman who was found under the rubble of a nine-storey building in the Zaporizhia region, AP reported.
Russia鈥檚 Defence Ministry said it intercepted three Ukrainian drones overnight, and claimed control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
The RIA Novosti news agency said one person was killed by a Ukrainian drone in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine鈥檚 Luhansk region, while the acting governor of Russia鈥檚 Kursk said that two people were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the border region.