Five people have died and tens of thousands have been left without power in Ukraine after intense Russian missile and drone attacks overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Ukraine’s neighbour, Poland, scrambled fighter jets in order to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish military confirmed. Allied Nato aircraft were also deployed.
Four members of one family, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed by a strike in the village of Lapaivka as attacks focused on the nearby western city of Lviv.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had successfully carried out a “massive” strike on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets.
Another family member was injured, as were two neighbours, in the strike that killed their relatives in Lapaivka.
One person also died in Zaporizhzhia. Zelensky said Russia fired more than 50 missiles and around 500 attack drones.
Lviv endured several hours of strikes, leading to the suspension of public transport services and the cutting of electrical supplies.
The Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions were also targeted, as well as Lviv and Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelensky.
He added, “We need more protection and faster implementation of all defence agreements, especially on air defence, 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.”
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