Russia has launched approximately 1,600 strike drones, nearly 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and three missiles against Ukraine over the past week.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reported the figures on Saturday, May 2, emphasizing that the frequent, massive attacks are a deliberate attempt to saturate and overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.
He stressed that the daily supply of interceptor missiles is vital for protection, alongside maintaining strict international sanctions to limit the Kremlin’s ability to fund its military operations.
The president highlighted a “brutal safari on people” occurring daily in frontline and border communities. This includes a Saturday morning strike in Kherson, where a Russian FPV drone targeted a public minibus.
The attack killed a municipal worker and a woman, while seven other passengers – six men and one woman – were hospitalized with blast injuries. Zelensky noted that the victims were all civilians and that the Russian operators were fully aware of their targets.
Overnight, Russian forces also struck a high-rise residential building in Kharkiv and targeted energy infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region. Additional strikes were reported across the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Sumy, Kherson, and Donetsk regions.
The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that 142 drones were intercepted or suppressed during the most recent overnight assault, which involved 163 aircraft. Despite the high interception rate, 17 drones struck 12 different locations across the country.
Zelensky thanked those working to restrict Russian sanctions-evasion schemes, noting that any weakening of pressure directly fuels the Russian war chest.