Zelensky Says Russia Launched Widespread Drone Strikes Across Ukraine; Casualty Toll Unclear

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Russia was carrying out ongoing waves of drone strikes across a broad swath of Ukraine, with deaths and injuries reported in multiple regions as officials warned the assault was still unfolding and the full scale had not yet been established.

Zelensky also said the timing was not accidental, linking the attack to U.S. President Donald Trump’s arrival in China on Wednesday. Trump reached Beijing the same day, according to AP and Reuters. Zelensky presented the overlap as politically significant, but offered it as his interpretation rather than as an established fact.

Early reports cited by Reuters said at least three people were killed in western Ukraine. Zelensky later said six people had been killed and dozens more wounded, including children. Those figures were still preliminary, and a consolidated national casualty toll had not yet been independently confirmed at the time of reporting.

What was clear from official Ukrainian statements was that the attack stretched far beyond one area. Zelensky said strikes or hits were reported from western Ukraine to the capital and southern and eastern regions, and he accused Moscow of hitting transport and civilian targets. “Russia continues its strikes and is doing so brazenly – deliberately targeting our railway infrastructure and civilian sites in our cities,” he said.

At the same time, the only published military accounting available from Ukraine’s Air Force covered a narrower overnight period. Ukrainian outlets, citing the Air Force, reported that Russia launched 139 strike and decoy drones from the evening of May 12 into the morning of May 13. By about 8 a.m. local time, 111 had been destroyed or suppressed, according to that tally.

That accounting did not settle the overall scale of the day’s attack. Zelensky separately said that “since the start of the day” there had been at least 800 Russian drones, but that figure was not independently corroborated in the available reporting and had not been reconciled with the Air Force’s smaller overnight count. In wartime, such discrepancies can reflect different reporting windows, including the difference between a military snapshot issued in the morning and a political statement made later while an attack is still underway.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as HUR, described the barrage as a combined air strike and warned it could be prolonged. Ukrainian media, citing the agency, reported that missile launches — including possible cruise or ballistic missiles — could follow the drone waves.

The warnings underscored the uncertainty facing civilians and emergency services as the strikes continued. Officials were still piecing together damage reports from across the country, and the casualty count remained subject to change as more regions assessed the aftermath.

Russia has repeatedly used large drone and missile attacks to try to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses and damage infrastructure, including transport links and civilian facilities. Zelensky used his Wednesday appeal to press for more outside backing as the latest assault unfolded. “It is important to repel every attack with resilience. It is important to support Ukraine and not remain silent about Russia’s war.”