Seven killed in Ukraine after massive Russian drone attack as RAF jets patrol Romanian airspace
A large-scale Russian drone and missile assault on Ukraine has left at least seven people dead and dozens injured, while NATO air defences were activated in neighbouring Romania amid rising regional tensions.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 619 drones and 47 missiles overnight, with most reportedly intercepted. Ukrainian officials claimed 580 drones and 30 missiles were shot down.
Five people were killed in the city of Dnipro, while another two died in the Chernihiv region, according to emergency services and local authorities.
Regional officials in Dnipro said bodies were recovered from a damaged building, with several others possibly still trapped under rubble. At least 21 people were injured in the city, while additional casualties were reported in other regions including Odesa and Kharkiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said infrastructure was heavily targeted and described a night of widespread bombardment across multiple cities.
In a parallel development, two Royal Air Force Typhoon jets were scrambled from a NATO base in Romania after radar detected drones near its airspace. The aircraft were deployed from Enhanced Air Policing Mission based at the 86th Air Base in Fetesti.
Romanian defence officials said the jets tracked aerial objects near the Ukrainian border, close to the city of Reni, and drone fragments were later recovered near Galati. The aircraft did not fire weapons or enter Ukrainian airspace.
Meanwhile, Russian state media reported that Moscow forces claimed to have captured the village of Bochkove in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
The escalation comes amid continued cross-border attacks and heightened NATO vigilance along its eastern flank.
