Ukraine said that Russia had pounded the country with hundreds of drones and missiles overnight for hours, killing at least four people in the capital alone.
Neighbouring Poland scrambled jets to secure its airspace in the wake of the barrage, after NATO accused Moscow of being behind a series of violations of the defence alliance’s airspace.
Diplomatic efforts to stop the war, now nearing its fourth year, have faltered, while Russia has vowed to press on with its offensive.
“Moscow wants to continue fighting and killing and deserves only the harshest pressure from the world,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following the strikes, which lasted for 12 hours.
“The Kremlin gains from prolonging this war and its associated terror as long as it profits from energy sales,” he stated, calling for more robust actions from Kyiv’s allies against Russia.
The Ukrainian leader vowed his country would target Russia’s ability to fund the war and force Moscow to diplomacy.
He posted a video of residential buildings caught up in flames, with emergency services putting down fires and rescuing people from shattered buildings.
Besides the dead, which included a 12-year-old girl, more than 40 people were wounded in the Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Sumy, Cherkasy and Mykolaiv regions, Ukrainian authorities said.
More victims could be uncovered as rescuers went about their jobs, they warned.
Apart from residential buildings, a cardiology centre and a kindergarten were among the targets across the country, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, accused Moscow of waging a “war against civilians”, urging greater action from Kyiv’s Western allies.
“There will be a response to these actions. But the West’s economic blows against Russia must also be stronger,” Yermak said.
Russia rained down 643 drones and missiles, including glide bombs, across eastern, central and southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The assaults followed Russia’s warning to NATO against implementing harsher measures in reaction to supposed breaches of airspace governed by the military alliance.
‘They will regret it’
Poland’s armed forces said on X that Warsaw had scrambled fighter jets in its airspace and put ground-based air defence systems on high alert in response to Russia’s strikes.
Russia has denied that it is responsible for the incursions or that it plans to attack any NATO nation.
Speaking later to reporters, Lavrov said that if any country downs objects still within Russian airspace, “they will very much regret it”.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine received a US-made Patriot air defence system from Israel, and two more were expected to arrive soon, after he returned from his own trip to New York, where he also addressed the UN.
While initially neutral in the conflict, Israel’s ties with Moscow have cooled as Russia has drifted closer to Iran and condemned Israel’s war in Gaza.
US and Ukrainian delegations will hold several meetings in the coming weeks on weapons purchases, as Kyiv provided Washington with a list of weapons Ukraine wanted, part of a plan to purchase US$90 billion ($137 billion) worth of arms from Washington, according to Zelenskyy.
Kyiv and Moscow also said on Sunday AEST that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — had been off the grid for four days, stoking fears of a potential nuclear incident.
