Russia continued its near-weekly streak of breaking the record for the largest air raid of its war against Ukraine, launching nearly 750 strikes overnight, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to protect European air-space from rogue munitions.
Ukraine says it largely defeated a mammoth Russian air raid over night into Wednesday, with its air force saying in a statement that Moscow launched nearly 750 drones and missiles against its territory. The city of Lutsk, the capital of the Volyn Oblast in Ukraine’s far-west was stated to be the target of almost all the strikes.
The regional administrator said: “Last night, the region came under a massive attack once again. Almost everything was directed at Lutsk”.
Ukraine said it detected 728 bomb drones and decoys, seven Iskander missiles, and six Kinzhal missiles. 303 of these weapons were shot down by Ukrainian air defences and jet interceptors, and 415 were brought down by other means, including electronic warfare.
17 drones and 16 missiles made it through Ukraine’s air defence shield, its air force said in their statement. Despite attacks hitting four targets and falling debris from intercepted drones and missiles landing in 14 places, the mayor of Lutsk reported in the early hours of Wednesday morning that no fatalities were known.
Nevertheless, civilian casualties were still reported by the Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday. A one-year-old boy was killed and a woman was injured by a Russian strike on a village in Kherson on the very fringe of the front lines around the Dnieper, it was stated.
Given the overnight air raids focussed on a city in Ukraine’s Europe-facing west, the risk of Russian weapons or Ukrainian anti-air missiles crossing the border into NATO air space saw alliance jets scrambled. The Operational Command of the Armed Forces (DORSZ) in Warsaw, Poland scrambled the “duty fighter pairs”, and activated the ground-based air defence systems.
Launching F-16s was to ensure “security in areas bordering the threatened regions”, Polish forces said. The jets were stood down and returned to base after a two-hour mission without any engagements having been made public.
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