Russia launches massive drone barrage on Ukraine as Zelenskyy calls for tougher sanctions

Moscow launched 96 drones and a guided air missile into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials reported.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that it destroyed 66 of the drones, along with the missile. Another 27 drones were reportedly “lost” in various areas, likely due to electronic jamming, while one entered Belarusian airspace. No casualties were reported in the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia has launched approximately 900 guided aerial bombs, 500 drones, and 30 missiles against Ukraine over the past week.

Zelenskyy appealed Sunday on X to Ukraine’s allies to provide “long-range capabilities for our security”, saying that these “attacks would have been impossible if we had sufficient support from the world."

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Kyiv is still awaiting word from its Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets on Russian soil, including for preemptive Ukrainian strikes on camps where North Korean troops are being trained.

The Ukrainian President also urged partners to enact “truly effective sanctions to prevent Russia from importing critical components for drone and missile production”. This appeal followed an address on Saturday, in which he said over 2,000 drones and missiles “still using Western components” were launched against Ukraine in October, and underlined the need for more stringent export controls to prevent sanctions evasion.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in three regions of Russia: 16 in the Rostov region, two in the Belgorod region and one in the Volgograd region.

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A man died Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

With inputs from agencies.