Russia hammers Ukraine with 289 drones and 76 missiles in one night

Russia threw 289 drones and 76 missiles at Ukraine in a single night, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday. The barrage included 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles, according to his post on X. Zelensky said Moscow aimed at critical infrastructure across the country, naming Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and the Rivne region as targets.

The human toll is still climbing. Zelensky said Russia has killed 29 people in recent attacks and wounded five others. In the Zaporizhzhia region, rescue crews have been digging since yesterday, he added.

What got Zelensky's attention was the timing. "It is very telling that all of this is happening on the day of the US congressional elections," he said, arguing the Kremlin is betting Washington won't register the strike. "The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them," he wrote.

His message to allies was blunt: send more air defense. "Such terror must be noticed and stopped. Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes," Zelensky said.

The overnight assault is one of the largest single-night drone counts Ukraine has reported, pairing nearly 300 unmanned aircraft with a heavy missile load. Zelensky's appeal now lands on a US audience that just voted — and on the same day he says Russia wanted to be ignored.