Russia launches document aerial assault on Ukraine : NPR

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Gavriil Grigorov/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP KYIV — Russia launched the most important aerial assault on Ukraine in a single day because the starting of the full-scale invasion, based on the Ukrainian Air Pressure, which added that considered one of its F-16 fighter jet pilots was killed within the assault.

Air pressure spokesman Yurii Ihnat informed NPR on Sunday it was the most important air assault when it comes to the variety of weapons used.

In an announcement on social media, the air pressure mentioned Russia used 537 drones and missiles within the assault; 249 had been shot down and the remainder disappeared from the radar, the air pressure mentioned.

The strikes focused cities all through Ukraine, together with Mykolaiv within the south, Zaporizhzhia within the southeast, Kremenchuk within the central a part of the nation, and Lviv within the west. Companies and civilian infrastructure had been hit, and a number of other individuals had been injured, native authorities mentioned.

Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy famous a baby was damage in an assault on Smila, a city in central Ukraine.

"This week alone, there have been over 114 missiles, greater than 1,270 drones and virtually 1,110 guided air bombs," he wrote. Russian President Vladimir Putin "determined way back that he would proceed to combat regardless of the world's requires peace."

Within the newest assaults, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko, a 32-year-old Ukrainian F-16 pilot, was killed after taking pictures down seven Russian aerial targets.

"Whereas partaking the ultimate goal, his plane was broken and started to lose altitude," the air pressure mentioned in an announcement. "Maksym Ustymenko did the whole lot he might to steer the plane away from a populated space however didn't handle to eject in time."

Ukraine lobbied the Biden administration arduous for the F-16 fighter jets, which assist defend Ukraine's skies.

Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine regardless of talks between the 2 international locations in Istanbul, which had been alleged to result in a ceasefire. Nonetheless, the one end result has been a sequence of prisoner exchanges. Within the final couple of weeks, Russian drones and ballistic missiles have killed dozens of Ukrainians and injured a whole lot extra.

Talking on the St. Petersburg Worldwide Financial Discussion board on June 20, Putin mentioned "all of Ukraine is ours" in principle and that "wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps is Russian land."