03/09/2025
Russia Launches Over 500 Drones and Missiles in Overnight Barrage on Ukraine; NATO Aircraft Scramble in Poland
Russia unleashed one of its heaviest overnight assaults in weeks, firing more than 500 drones and missiles into Ukraine between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to Ukraine’s air force. Explosions were reported across western Ukraine, while NATO aircraft scrambled across the border in Poland in response to the strikes.
Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post that Russia launched 502 attack and decoy drones along with 24 missiles. Defending forces downed or suppressed 430 drones and 21 missiles, though impacts from 69 drones and three missiles were recorded across 14 locations. Debris from intercepted munitions also caused damage at several sites.
The barrage targeted multiple regions. Local officials reported blasts in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, and Kyiv. In the capital, one drone crashed, though no casualties were reported.
• Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said 15 Russian drones struck the city, about 40 miles from Poland’s border. A warehouse was partially destroyed.
• Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk confirmed damage to civilian infrastructure.
• Ivano-Frankivsk’s military administration chief Svitlana Onyshchuk reported a fire at an industrial site, prompting the deployment of 130 emergency workers. No casualties were reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes, saying Russia deliberately targeted “civilian infrastructure, particularly energy facilities, a transportation hub, even a garage cooperative, and, as has already become routine for the Russians, residential areas.” He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of demonstrating “impunity” and blamed the continued attacks on a lack of sufficient international pressure on Russia’s war economy.
Across the border, Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command confirmed NATO aircraft were deployed during the attack. “In our airspace, Polish and allied aircraft are operating intensively, while ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of maximum readiness,” the military said in a post on X. NATO returned to normal readiness after four hours once the strikes ended.
The assault comes despite ongoing U.S.-led peace efforts and repeated admonitions from U.S. President Donald Trump urging Moscow to scale back its long-range strikes. Though August saw fewer Russian attacks compared to record-breaking July barrages, the two weeks following the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska have brought a sharp escalation.
One of the deadliest recent strikes occurred on Aug. 27-28, when a drone and missile barrage on Kyiv killed at least 23 people.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is intensifying its own long-range strikes inside Russia. On Wednesday, Moscow’s Defense Ministry claimed it intercepted 105 Ukrainian drones overnight. Zelenskyy announced plans to boost domestic production of strike weapons, including drones, missiles, and air defense systems.
“We are preparing a technological headquarters involving manufacturers of Ukrainian missiles, key types of drones and air defense tools,” Zelenskyy wrote. “We will increase the production of our strike means.”
