Russia executed the single largest aerial assault of the entire conflict overnight into Saturday, saturating Ukrainian airspace with an unprecedented combined force of 653 drones and 51 missiles, deliberately timed to coincide with Ukraine’s Armed Forces Day and mere hours before a third day of high-level diplomatic talks mediated by the United States.

Ukrainian air defence units, stretched to their absolute limits, achieved an extraordinary interception rate by shooting down or electronically neutralising 585 drones and 30 missiles, yet the sheer volume overwhelmed coverage in several sectors, allowing 29 separate locations to be struck, resulting in cascading explosions, fires, and widespread power outages across multiple regions.

Energy infrastructure remained the primary target in what has become a systematic Russian campaign to destroy Ukraine’s electricity generation and transmission capacity. Power plants, high-voltage substations, and critical distribution nodes in at least six oblasts were hit, plunging hundreds of thousands of households into darkness and threatening prolonged blackouts as temperatures plummet below freezing for a fourth consecutive winter.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the barrage as “pure terrorism,” highlighting the complete incineration of Fastiv’s historic railway station in Kyiv oblast by a direct drone strike, an act that severed a vital transport hub and symbolised Moscow’s intent to maximise civilian suffering even as diplomatic channels remain technically open.

While Ukraine absorbed the heaviest blow in living memory, Russian authorities claimed their own defences downed 116 Ukrainian drones overnight, with unverified footage circulating of a massive blaze at the Ryazan oil refinery deep inside Russia, underscoring that Kyiv continues to exact a mounting economic toll even under extreme duress. The unprecedented escalation now hangs like a dark cloud over the ongoing Florida negotiations, where American and Ukrainian teams were set to resume discussions on postwar security guarantees amid stark evidence of Russia’s unrelenting battlefield aggression.

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