Russia launches mass attack against Ukraine with hundreds of drones, Kyiv says

Published on 13/05/2026 - 14:47 GMT+2

Moscow launched a monolithic time clip aerial onslaught connected Ukraine connected Wednesday with hundreds of drones intended to overwhelm the country's aerial defences, sidesplitting astatine slightest 3 radical and wounding 12 others.

Ukraine's subject quality warned the colonisation of a “prolonged combined onslaught connected Ukraine's captious and civilian infrastructure” arsenic the archetypal aerial raid sirens went disconnected crossed the state astir 11:00am section time.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it detected astatine slightest 8 groups of Shahed-type drones coming from antithetic directions.

According to the Ukrainian monitoring transmission “Monitor” dozens of drones entered the country’s airspace from Belarus, flying implicit the Chernobyl portion toward the country's northwest.

Ukraine's Air Force stated that galore of the drones were heading towards the superior Kyiv from the north.

Explosions from aerial defence enactment were heard soon afterward successful the capital.

Another radical of Shahed-type drones entered from the Black Sea, heading westbound toward the Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Ternopil regions.

A important fig of the drones appeared to beryllium heading further southbound and westbound toward the cardinal Ukrainian metropolis of Khmelnytskyi.

Ukraine's subject quality issued a connection saying aft the archetypal question of drones, Russian forces mean to travel up with a important fig of air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, arsenic good arsenic ballistic missiles.

Russia’s caller tactic

Until recently, Russia had chiefly carried retired wide drone and rocket strikes astatine night.

But the maneuver seems to person changed successful March-April, erstwhile Moscow switched to a daytime battle strategy.

According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War, the caller Russian maneuver — combining a large nighttime clip onslaught with an arsenic dense daytime battle — is apt to summation harm to Ukrainian civilians.

This attack lets Russia endanger much areas of Ukraine for longer periods and disproportionately impact civilian districts.

Russia has antecedently launched 700 oregon much aerial targets successful nighttime clip attacks, the analysts noted.