President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Ukraine is bracing for a major Russian attack as early as tonight or tomorrow night, saying Moscow is preparing a large-scale strike using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
Speaking to CBS News’ Face the Nation, Zelensky said Ukraine had detected signs of Russian preparations ahead of expanded strikes. He thanked US and European partners for sharing intelligence.
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“We see the preparation,” Zelensky said. “So when we know that Russia prepares a big massive attack, definitely our partners also know – maybe not a lot of details, but they know.”
Zelensky urged Ukrainians to exercise extreme caution.
“I will say that our people have to be very, very careful, cautious – and children – and they have to use bomb shelters,” Zelensky said. “Because tonight or tomorrow night, there is a high chance. Of course, nobody knows exactly 100 percent, but there is a high percent.”
According to Zelensky, localized Russian attacks against civilians and frontline positions occur daily, while massive combined strikes involving drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles happen roughly twice a week or every 10 days.
Later on Friday, President Zelensky delivered his nightly address to the nation and issued a matching statement on social media, confirming that fresh intelligence reports pointed to an imminent strike. He noted that the state was on high alert and emphasized that securing more air defense interceptors remains Kyiv’s top priority.
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Critical air defense deficit
President Zelensky highlighted the scale of a recent assault to illustrate the immense pressure facing Ukrainian air defenses.
“The last massive attack, just to understand, was some days ago,” Zelensky said. “It was 600 drones – Iranian drones, Shaheds – and about 35, 40-plus ballistic missiles. Totally, it was 90 missiles and more than 600 Iranian drones.”
He said intercepting every target under such heavy volume remains exceptionally difficult.
“We used all weapons that we have, that we produce, and of course we used anti-ballistic missiles,” Zelensky added. “This is the biggest deficit for us.”
Testing NATO unity
President Zelensky added that Ukraine actively tries to intercept Russian drones even when their flight paths head toward neighboring countries.
“Usually we try to catch all the drones, even when their direction is toward other countries – like Romania, Moldova or Poland,” he said. “If we can’t, of course, we give these messages to our partners. We try to help them.”
He noted that Ukraine also shares real-time tracking warnings with its Baltic partners, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
According to Zelensky, Moscow deliberately uses these airspace incursions to exert political and military pressure on Western allies.
“Russia uses this just to attack politically and by weapon pressure on NATO countries, to look at the reaction,” he said, arguing that the Alliance’s response should be significantly stronger and more unified.
Russia testing allied air defenses
Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is closely monitoring how NATO’s responses have evolved over the three years of the full-scale war.
He emphasized that Russia is actively testing the air defense capabilities of NATO countries bordering Ukraine, Belarus or Russia to assess their operational readiness.
“He is testing what air defense they have – can they destroy all the missiles or drones,” Zelensky said.
The warning underscores Kyiv’s ongoing campaign to press Western partners for accelerated deliveries of advanced air defense systems. Ukrainian officials maintain that Russia’s expanding air assault campaign threatens not only Ukrainian population centers but also the broader security of NATO’s eastern flank.
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