The aftermath of a Russian airstrike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Photo: National Police of Ukraine / Telegram

Russian forces launched massive combined drone and missile strikes across Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) reported on Saturday.

Southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region was worst affected, where one person was killed and 24 more were injured, including several children, according to regional Governor Ivan Fedorov. Some 14 high-rise buildings and over 40 private homes were damaged, fires broke out at multiple industrial sites, and approximately 25,000 people in the region had been left without power, Fedorov added.

Russian missiles and drones also attacked the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak reported, adding that infrastructure in the cities of Dnipro and Pavlohrad had been damaged, but that no casualties had been sustained.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had also attacked other regions overnight, including the partially occupied Donetsk region in the east of the country and the Kyiv region, and once again called for a global response to Russia’s tactics.

“We saw the world’s response to the previous strike,” Zelensky said, referring to a massive Russian attack on the capital Kyiv earlier in the week in which 23 people lost their lives. “But now, as Russia once again shows its utter disregard for words, we count on real action. … This war won’t stop with political statements alone; real steps are needed. We expect action from the US, Europe, and the entire world.”

The UAF said that its air defences had identified 582 aerial targets, 548 of which it had managed to shoot down or neutralise, while five missiles and 24 drones struck seven different locations, with falling debris affecting 21 areas.