SAEDNEWS: Russia launched its biggest ever attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad early on Saturday, as part of a large wave of strikes across the country involving hundreds of kamikaze drones and ballistic missiles.
The six-hour bombardment was the worst in the city’s history, according to The Guardian, which closely follows the conflict between the two sides since early 2022.
Drones could be heard flying over Pavlohrad in the early hours of Saturday. There were cacophonous booms and orange explosions lighting up the night sky. The streets echoed with machine-gun fire as anti-aircraft units tried to shoot them down.
The attack came soon after Gen Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, flew back to Washington after a six-day visit to Kyiv. The White House announced a large-scale arms package to Ukraine this week, including additional Patriot anti-aircraft systems, to be paid for by European allies.
The Kremlin refrained from carrying out a large-scale bombardment while Kellogg was in the country. Social media was awash with memes depicting Kellogg as a cat protecting the capital, since Keith sounds similar to kit, or cat in Ukrainian.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev promised on Friday that Moscow would escalate its aerial attacks in response to the EU’s latest sanctions package, which was agreed after the pro-Kremlin government in Slovakia dropped its objections.
Pavlohrad is a strategic hub for the Dnipropetrovsk oblast. Russian troops are close to capturing territory in the region, which borders Donetsk province, for the first time since the start of the conflict. The Russian troops are advancing and have captured several neighbouring villages in recent days.
