REVISES EXISTING DECK & ADDS NEW ONE; UPDATES WITH LATEST STATEMENTS FROM UKRAINE & RUSSIA
By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Sunday that at least five people were killed and 16 others injured in an overnight Russian airstrike on the western Lviv and southeastern Zaporizhzhia regions.
“In (the village of) Lapaivka, the enemy hit a residential building — the death toll has increased to four people,” Lviv Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said in a statement on Telegram, noting that six others were injured in the region.
Kozytskyy said that one house was destroyed as a result of the overnight attack, and eight more were damaged.
The country’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said the overnight attack in the western Ukrainian region lasted for over five hours, and that all emergency services are working continuously at the sites of the strikes.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi separately wrote that a number of fires have erupted in the region’s administrative center, including an industrial park.
Separately, Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov declared that one person was killed and 10 others were injured in his region, where he reported power outages and damage to local infrastructure, including eight apartment buildings.
The country's Energy Ministry said Ukrainian energy facilities were also targeted in the attack, including in the Zaporizhzhia region. "The situation in Sumy and Chernihiv regions remains difficult," it added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed more than 50 missiles and about 500 attack drones were launched during the overnight attack, which he said also targeted the Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions.
“We need more protection and faster implementation of all defense agreements, especially on air defense, to deprive this aerial terror of any meaning. A unilateral ceasefire in the skies is possible – and it is precisely that which could open the way to real diplomacy. America and Europe must act to make (Russian President Vladimir) Putin stop,” Zelenskyy added.
Ukraine’s Air Force later claimed that air defenses shot down 493 out of 496 drones, as well as 39 out of 53 various types of missiles, launched by Russia overnight.
Elsewhere, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces announced on US social media company X that the country scrambled its aircraft amid the overnight airstrikes in Ukraine, adding that no violations of its airspace were observed.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a later statement that it launched a mass strike on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities, as well as energy infrastructure supporting their operation.
"The strike's objectives were achieved. All designated targets were hit," it said.