THE WAR TRUMP IS IGNORING
Almost 1,000 drones within 24 hours: Russia launched one of its largest attacks on Ukraine
In one of its largest attacks since the beginning of the all-out war, Russia launched almost 1,000 drones against Ukraine, targeting all regions, including Western Ukraine.
Russia launched almost 1,000 drones against Ukraine within 24 hours between March 23 and 24, making it one of Moscow’s largest aerial attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Following a massive barrage of missiles and drones overnight, Russia carried on its attack during Tuesday in a rare daytime wave of over 550 attack drones targeting central and western regions.
At least three people have been killed and over 30 have been injured across Ukraine during the daylight attack, following the overnight missiles and drone assault, killing at least four people and injuring 21, according to regional authorities.
Lviv in Western Ukraine got hit and 17 people were wounded when Russian drones hit civilian areas in the city not far from the border with Poland.
UNESCO listed monastery in Lviv old town hit
The Monastery is situated in Lviv’s historic centre, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
In his evening address Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the history of this church dates back to the early 17th century.
“Iranian ‘Shahed’ drones, modernised by Russia, are striking a church in Lviv – this is an absolute perversion, and only someone like Putin could find this appealing.”
Moscow strikes also hit critical infrastructure facilities in other districts.
Russia also targeted Ivano-Frankivsk, another regional capital in western Ukraine.
Two people were killed in the attack in the city centre, four others were injured, including a 6-year-old child, regional governor stated.
Authorities also reported damage to maternity hospitals and around 10 residential buildings.
Russia 'changing tactics' and 'trying to find vulnerabilities'
Explosions were reported as well in Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil, in Western Ukraine, as well as in Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr, in the central part of the country.
A 12-year-old girl was injured in a Russian strike on central Zhytomyr and has been hospitalised.
Kyiv and the areas around the capital were also targeted during the daytime attack with Ukraine’s Air Force registering drones flying towards Kyiv from the North.
Ukraine's Defence Ministry advisor Serhii Flash said that Russia is constantly changing its tactics for massive strikes, "trying to find vulnerabilities," and break through Ukraine's air defences.
Zelenskyy said the scale of Russian attack makes it ”abundantly clear that Russia has no intention of actually ending this war.”
“And when you consider that Russia is also helping the Iranian regime to strike across the entire region, the conclusion is quite obvious: without additional and strong pressure on Russia, without tangible Russian losses, those in Moscow will have no desire to step back from the war or to get used to peace again.”
By AFP
March 24, 2026
Russia pours 400 drones at western Ukraine in rare daytime attack
Yuriy DYACHYSHYN with Daria ANDRIIEVSKA in Kyiv
Russia fired almost 1,000 drones at Ukraine over the last 24-hours, unleashing one of its largest-ever daytime attacks, killing at least eight people and hitting the UNESCO-protected city centre of Lviv, officials said Tuesday.
Two people were killed and a maternity hospital damaged in a drone strike on the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, with another person killed in the central Vinnytsia region — part of an assault that followed an overnight barrage on residential buildings in several cities that killed another five people.
In Lviv, a western city far from the front, an AFP reporter saw a column of flames rising from a building next to the 17th-century St. Andrew’s Church and Bernardine Monastery in the city centre, which was struck during evening rush hour.
Firefighters were working to put out the blaze at the apartment building, whose roof had been smashed in and windows blown out.
First responders and locals were seen sheltering inside a church in mid-attack, waiting for the all-clear to go back outside.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s air force told AFP it was one of the biggest-ever daytime attacks on Ukraine.
“On such a large scale, it’s basically the first time. I don’t recall there being such daytime strikes with this number of drones,” said the spokesman, Yuriy Ignat.
Russia fired 550 drones during the day on Tuesday, following 392 overnight, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement.
Moscow has typically fired its barrages overnight in the four-year war, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
– ‘More protection needed’: Zelensky –
The daytime strikes on the centre of Ivano-Frankivsk killed two people and wounded four, including a six-year-old child, regional head Svitlana Onyshchuk said on social media.
Around 10 residential buildings and a maternity hospital were damaged, she said.
In the Vinnytsia region, one person was killed and 11 wounded, the regional head said.
In Lviv, at least 13 people were hospitalised.
Unverified video from the city shared widely on social media showed a drone careering down into a building near a church in the city centre, erupting into a ball of flames on impact.
Earlier, in Kyiv, AFP reporters saw locals — including a mother with her toddler — sheltering in the metro at lunchtime during a rare midday air alert.
The attacks came with Ukraine concerned that it could struggle to repel relentless Russian aerial strikes as its supplies of US air defence systems dwindle amid the war in the Middle East.
“These numbers clearly show that more protection is needed to save lives from Russian strikes,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
A third round of US-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv aimed at ending Russia’s invasion has been derailed by the war in the Middle East.
Ukraine sent a delegation to the United States last weekend in a bid to revive the negotiation process, but the effort yielded no immediate result.
Kyiv has been seeking to trade its anti-drone technology and expertise for conventional air defence missiles, which it urgently needs, and has dispatched around 200 of its military experts to Gulf countries facing Iranian drone attacks.
– Housing, infrastructure hit –
Overnight, Russian missiles and drones rained down on residential areas and transport and energy infrastructure across Ukraine, local authorities said.
Five people were killed and dozens wounded in strikes across the central Poltava region, the eastern city of Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.
AFP reporters in Zaporizhzhia — repeatedly battered by Russian attacks — saw a fire raging across multiple floors in a high-rise residential block, windows and balconies blasted out and grey smoke bellowing from the building.
The nighttime attack also cut a key power line connecting neighbouring Moldova to Europe, forcing the country to declare a state of emergency.
Another power line to the southern Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was also cut, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported.
Russia has occupied large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine in a gruelling campaign that has forced millions of people to flee their homes.
In Russia, authorities in the western Kursk region said a Ukrainian strike on a farm had killed one person and wounded 13.
On the battlefield, Russia’s army said it had captured a Ukrainian village in the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine peace talks stall as Russia begins its spring offensive
The diplomatic process aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine has stalled since the beginning of the Iran war, which Kyiv claims only “bolsters Russia’s confidence”.
After a few rounds of trilateral talks between the US, Ukraine and Russia, the diplomatic process aimed at putting an end to Moscow’s full-scale invasion has largely stalled with no clear progress in sight.
Kyiv’s delegation returned from two days of meetings in Miami with few tangible results, following what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as a discussion over “the key points, opportunities and challenges”.
“The most important thing is to work out security guarantees in such a way that they bring us closer to ending the war. Security is the key to peace.”
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff stated on Sunday that the “constructive” US-Ukrainian talks focused on humanitarian efforts and on establishing a durable and dependable security framework for Ukraine.
In the bigger picture, Kyiv sees it as critically important to continue the dialogue with the US and demonstrate to Washington that it is not Ukraine that is an obstacle to a peace solution.
With the beginning of the Iran war on 28 February, US President Donald Trump’s focus has significantly shifted to the situation in the Middle East.
“The geopolitical situation has become more complicated due to the war against Iran, and this, unfortunately, bolsters Russia’s confidence,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, adding that “the fundamental circumstances have not changed”.
“Russia is continuing this war and destabilisation in Europe, supporting the Iranian regime with intelligence data and thereby prolonging the war in that region, as well as preparing for new conflicts in the coming years.”
According to Ukrainian outlets, the US officials are again increasing pressure on Kyiv to withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region as part of a potential settlement.
Washington warned the Ukrainian delegation that it could step back from mediation efforts if no progress is achieved, prioritising military operations against Iran instead, reports claim.
Kyiv insists that the most sensitive issues, including Ukraine’s territories, can only be discussed in a direct meeting between Zelenskyy, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Meetings at the leadership level are needed to truly resolve these issues," Zelenskyy said.
But Moscow is still rejecting this possibility as it continues attacking Ukraine.
Moscow troops intensified ground assaults along the front lines, signalling the start of Russia’s spring offensive. At the same time, Moscow launched yet another massive aerial attack against Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia attacked with 392 drones, mostly Shahed-type, seven Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, 18 Kh-101 cruise missiles, five Iskander-K cruise missiles, and four X-59/69/31 guided air-to-ground missiles.
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