Russia, Ukraine war: Hundreds of strikes launched, as Volodymyr Zelensky scales up drone production

Russia and Ukraine have struck each other with hundreds of drones, throwing Russian air travel in disarray, shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced deals with allies that would allow the country to scale up drone production.

Photos circulating on social media showed crowds huddling at Russian airports including key international hubs in Moscow and St Petersburg as hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Saturday and overnight, according to Russia’s Transport Ministry.

The flight disruptions hit Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and St Petersburg’s main Pulkovo airports.

Other airports in western and central Russia also faced disruptions.

Russian air defences shot down 120 Ukrainian drones during the night-time attacks, and 39 more before 2pm Moscow time on Sunday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.

It did not clarify how many had hit targets or how many had been launched in total.

Early on Sunday, Ukrainian drones injured two civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region near the border, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday.

The Ukrainian attacks came just days after Russia pummelled Kyiv with waves of drones and missiles overnight into Friday, in what Ukrainian officials called the largest such strike since Russia’s all-out invasion.

Large-scale Russian drone strikes on Sunday injured three civilians in Kyiv and at least two in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast, local officials said.

A Russian attack involving Shahed drones also targeted port infrastructure in Mykolaiv in central Ukraine, according to local Governor Vitaliy Kim.

He reported warehouses and the port’s power grid were damaged but there were no casualties.

Hours later, Russia launched a glide bomb and a drone at the front-line town of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine, killing four civilians and injuring a fifth, the prosecutor’s office said.

Mr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine had inked deals with European allies and a US company to step up drone production, ensuring it receives “hundreds of thousands” more this year.

Mr Zelensky did not name the US business in his nightly video address but said Ukraine and Denmark have also agreed to co-produce drones and other weapons on Danish soil.

Ukraine has previously used homemade drones to hit high-value military targets deep inside Russia.

Last month, Ukraine said it destroyed more than 40 Russian planes stationed at several airfields deep inside Russia in a surprise attack.

Outmanned and outgunned, Ukraine’s army has also turned to drones to compensate for its troop shortage and shore up its defences.