Cities across Ukraine were hit, with local officials reporting at least eight people killed and dozens injured.
11 hours ago
Laura Gozziand
Jaroslav Lukiv
Russia has launched the largest aerial attack on Ukraine over a 24-hour period since the war began, hitting cities across the country with 948 drones.
Ukraine's Air Force said 556 drones had been fired since 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Tuesday, in an unusual daytime attack which killed at least three people and injured dozens.
In the western city of Lviv, the 16th century Bernardine monastery - part of a Unesco World Heritage site in the city centre - was damaged, local officials said.
In the neighbouring Ivano-Frankivsk region, a maternity hospital was hit.
Those strikes came after an overnight Russian attack left five people dead. Ukraine said 392 drones and 34 missiles were fired.
In his video address on Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the scale of the latest attacks "clearly shows that Russia has no intention of really ending this war".
Russia's military has not publicly commented on the attacks.
Andriy Sadovyi/Telegram
A video posted earlier on Tuesday by Lviv authorities showed a fire burning through the roof of a residential building near the Bernardine monastery.
Separate footage posted on social media showed a drone flying lower over the city and hitting the residential building.
Lviv regional head Maksym Kozytskyi said 32 people were injured in the Russian attack.
In the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, two people were killed and another four - including a six-year-old child - were injured, local officials said.
Various buildings - including a maternity hospital - were damaged in the regional capital.
Ternopil - another western Ukrainian city - was also targeted on Tuesday. A number of direct hits were reported by regional authorities, but no casualties.
In the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, one person was killed and 13 injured, regional head Nataliya Zabolotna said.
In the overnight Russian attacks, five people were killed when Russia targeted 11 Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine's Air Force said it had managed to shoot down most of the Russian drones and missiles - but admitted that there were multiple direct hits across the country.
Yurii Ihnat, spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, said late on Tuesday that a "large number of drones" had entered Ukrainian airspace from the north of the country, "effectively moving in columns".
"The geography of the strikes during the daytime was broader than at night... It can be said this was one of the largest attacks within a 24-hour period," he said.
While more than four years of war have left virtually no corner of Ukraine untouched, the west of the country has been hit comparatively less intensely and frequently than other areas nearer the Russian border in the east.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the war continues unabated, with Moscow launching near-daily attacks on cities across the country.
Also on Tuesday, the governor of Russia's western Kursk region said one man was killed and 13 people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on an agricultural enterprise.
Talks brokered by the US and aimed at reaching at a peace settlement have stalled since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in late February.
"Amid the news the world is drowning in every day, we will not let Ukrainian grief get lost, become just another statistic, a headline that will be casually skipped over," wrote Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska on social media.
A drone that entered Latvian airspace from Russia exploded in the country, prompting Defense Minister Andris Spruds to cut short his visit to Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on March 25.
Mobile fire groups and interceptor drone crews of the National Guard of Ukraine have been actively protecting critical infrastructure from enemy attacks, shooting down more than 500 Shahed drones in the first three months of 2026.
A drone that crossed into Estonia from Russia struck a smokestack at the Auvere power plant, ERR reported on March 25, citing the Security Police, with an investigation underway into the incident.
Around 21,000 residents of Slavutych in the Kyiv region were left without centralized electricity supply following a Russian attack.