At least six wounded in large-scale Russian air attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities say

KYIV: Russia used hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles to attack western, southern and central Ukraine overnight, damaging homes and infrastructure and injuring at least six people, local authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine lost its third F-16 fighter jet since the start of the war while repelling the attack, the military said.

The sounds of explosions were heard in Lviv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions, regional governors said.

The Ukrainian military said some 500 different types of aerial weapons were used during the attack, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.

“To repel the massive attack, all available means of the defence forces that can operate on enemy air assets were deployed,” the military said.

The pilot of the Ukrainian F-16 jet did everything he could and flew the jet away from a settlement but did not have time to eject, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

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“The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude,” the Air Force said on the Telegram messenger.

The military said Russia had launched 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types to Ukraine overnight while Ukrainian forces destroyed 211 drones and 38 missiles.

It said 225 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.

It said air strikes were recorded in six locations.

Infrastructure, homes

Six people, including one child, were injured in the central Cherkasy region, the governor Ihor Taburets said on the Telegram messenger.

Three multi-storey buildings and a college were damaged in the attack, he said.

Industrial facilities were hit in the southern Ukrainian Mykolaiv and central Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials say. Local authorities published photos of multi-storey houses with charred walls and broken windows and rescuers evacuating residents.

The governor of the Lviv region in the west of the country said the attack targeted critical infrastructure.

However, he did not report on the aftermath.