Russia unleashed a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight, killing three people, injuring dozens more, and damaging infrastructure and residential buildings, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

Despite diplomatic efforts to find ways to end the war that began when Russia invaded in February 2022, the fighting has intensified in recent months.

In a statement on the Telegram app, Zelensky said Russia had launched around 580 drones and 40 missiles targeting infrastructure, civilian manufacturing companies and residential areas in different parts of the country.

Air defences shot down 552 of the drones and 31 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said.

RUSSIA IS ‘TERRORISING’ CIVILIANS, SAYS ZELENSKY

“All night, Ukraine was under a massive attack by Russia,” Zelensky said. “Every such strike is not a military necessity but a deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorise civilians and destroy our infrastructure.”

Russia denies targeting Ukrainian civilians.

In the central city of Dnipro, a missile with a cluster munition hit a residential apartment building, Zelensky said.

One person was killed, and at least 26 people were injured in Dnipro, regional officials said.

Two people were also killed in the Chernihiv region in the north and the Khmelnytskyi region in the west of the country, regional officials said.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

“I could hear the ‘Shahed’ (drone) getting closer and closer. I understood it was flying towards us. My child and I were very frightened,” Yulia Chystokletova, a resident of Kyiv, told Reuters.

“It should not be happening in the 21st century. We are all people. Agree… sit down at the negotiating table.”

Kyiv faces increasing pressure in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are keeping up their grinding advance, devastating villages and towns and claiming new territory.

BOTH SIDES STEPPING UP DRONE ATTACKS

To hit Ukrainian cities far from the frontline, Russia appears to have changed its tactics and now launches swarms of hundreds of drones in one strike, compared with dozens early in the war.

Ukraine typically responds with drone strikes of its own, aiming to reach deeper into the Russian territory, hitting refineries, fuel depots, and logistics hubs.

Ukraine hit two Russian oil refineries in the Saratov and Samara regions in attacks overnight, causing explosions and fires, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

“Regarding refineries: we have drones, we know how to produce them. It all depends on the number of drones we use per day,” Zelensky told reporters.

“As soon as the number of drones is comparable to that of the Russians, they will feel it in terms of fuel shortages and the number of queues at petrol stations.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had successfully carried out strikes with high-precision weapons on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities overnight.

Polish and allied aircraft were also deployed early on Saturday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after some of Russia’s airstrikes targeted western Ukraine near the border with NATO member Poland, the Polish military command said.

(Additional reporting by Yuri Kovalenko; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Hugh Lawson and Gareth Jones)

Three Russian military jets violated NATO member Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes on Friday in an “unprecedentedly brazen” incursion, its government said, the latest in a series of recent military actions by Russia that have rattled the alliance.

With tensions already high because of the war in Ukraine, the incursion came just over a week after more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace on the night of Sept. 9-10. That prompted NATO jets to down some of them and Western officials to say Russia was testing the alliance’s readiness and resolve.

It also occurred three days after Russia and Belarus ended their “Zapad-2025” joint military exercises, which included the rehearsal of the launch of Russian nuclear weapons.

Tallinn said the three MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace without permission and stayed for a total of 12 minutes before they were forced to withdraw, a period during which the high-speed aircraft could have traversed broad swaths of the country.

“Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its jets routinely fly over the Baltic Sea between mainland Russia and its exclave of Kaliningrad.

Separately, Poland said on Friday two Russian fighter jets violated the safety zone of the Petrobaltic drilling platform in the Baltic Sea.

The U.S. State Department referred queries to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump’s administration was being closely watched for a response.

Washington had had little to say about the drone incursion into Poland and did not participate directly in fending it off, triggering deep anxiety among NATO members.

NATO said Russia was reckless.

“Earlier today, Russian jets violated Estonian airspace. NATO responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft. This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond,” a NATO spokesperson said on X.

Europeans quickly responded to the Russian jet incident on Friday. “This was no accident,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – a former Estonian prime minister – said in comments relayed by a spokesperson.

Estonia said it had summoned the top Russian diplomat in the country to lodge a protest and deliver a note.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said his country had decided to ask NATO to open consultations under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty, and that the Russian jets flew around 5 nautical miles (9 km) into NATO airspace before Italian F-35s, currently stationed at a base in Estonia, pushed them out.

NATO polices the airspace of Estonia and other Baltic nations in its “Baltic Sentry” mission.

“We consider it essential to consult with our Allies to ensure shared situational awareness and to agree on our next joint steps. The entire Alliance is treating this incident seriously,” Michal said.

Tsahkna suggested that Estonia would be asking allies for more air defenses. “It was a very clear provocation. It was definitely meant like this. And that’s why we are calling the Article 4 political consultations,” he told Reuters.

Article 4 states that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them is threatened.

Ukraine called the incursion an unacceptable new destabilization measure by Russia and said it stands with Estonia. “Strong action is needed, both jointly and from individual countries,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said NATO should urgently move air defence capabilities to frontline states.

“We are being tested, our citizens are being threatened almost every day now. This means that we need to have capabilities collected from our allies (to be placed) by our borders, because that’s the border of NATO,” she told Reuters.

In New York, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told Reuters he wasn’t aware of the incident, but added: “I do not trust what Estonia is saying about Russia.” When told about the accusation by Estonia that Russia had flown jets into its airspace, Nebenzia said: “How tragic.”

Estonia said the airspace violation occurred on Friday morning in the area of Vaindloo Island, around 100 kilometres (124 miles) from the capital Tallinn.

The aircraft did not have flight plans, their transponders were not switched on and they were not in contact with air traffic control, Estonia said.

While incursions over Vaindloo Island by Russian aircraft are fairly common, they do not usually last as long as Friday’s incident. “It’s tough to see how this wasn’t intentional,” a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

The official noted that it was difficult to see a situation where that many Russian aircraft did not know they were in Estonian airspace for that long, but added that a deeper assessment was ongoing.

Jakub M. Godzimirski, a research professor in Russian security policy at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, said the incident could be a test, but could also be purely coincidental.

“Still, this happens in a given context, having in mind what happened with the drone incursion in Poland a few days ago,” Godzimirski said.

A staunch supporter of Ukraine, Tallinn said in May that Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a “shadow fleet” defying Western sanctions on Moscow.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, Gram Slattery, Sabine Siebold, Gwladys Fouche, Angelo Amante, Idrees Ali, Anne Kauranen, Louise Rasmussen, Terje Solsvik, Nerijus Adomaitis, Lili Bayer, Andrew Gray, Michelle Nichols, David Latona and Yulia Dysa: Writing by Alan Charlish and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alex Richardson, Sharon Singleton, Don Durfee and Nick Zieminski)