Russia launches war's largest air attack on Ukraine, kills 13

KYIV: Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.

The dead included three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials there said.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the US, which has taken a softer public line on Russia and its Pesident Putin, since President Donald Trump took office, to speak out. "The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin," he wrote on Telegram. "Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia."It was the largest attack of the war in terms of weapons fired, although other strikes have killed more people. Ukraine and its European allies have sought to push Moscow into signing a 30-day ceasefire as a first step to negotiating an end to the three-year war. Their efforts suffered a blow earlier this week when Trump declined to place further sanctions on Moscow for not agreeing to an immediate pause in fighting, as Kyiv had wanted.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in its overnight assault, although it said it was able to down 266 drones and 45 missiles. Damage extended to a string of regional centres, including Ukraine's city of Kharkiv, as well as Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west. In Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city's military administration, said 11 people were injured in drone strikes.

No deaths were reported in the capital, although four were killed in the region around the city, according to officials.This was the second large aerial attack in two days. On Friday evening, Russia launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv in waves that continued through the night. In northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said early on Sunday that drones hit three city districts and injured three people. Russia's defence ministry reported its air defence units had intercepted or destroyed 95 Ukrainian drones. (This is a Reuters story)