Ten killed in Ukraine after major Russia drone attack, as RAF deploys Typhoon jets

Russia has launched a major drone attack overnight on Ukraine, killing 10 people and injuring more ‌than 30 others, as RAF Typhoon fighter jets were deployed over Romania.

Russia fired 619 ​drones and 47 missiles, Ukraine's air force said ⁠in a statement on Telegram, adding that it shot down 580 drones and 30 missiles.

Five people died in attacks on the city of Dnipro, according to Ukraine's state emergency service, while another two were killed in the Chernihiv region.

Three more people were killed, and two injured, during an overnight attack on the Luhansk region, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass, which cited a Russian-installed official.

Meanwhile, two British fighter jets were also scrambled from a base in Romania overnight after radar systems tracked drones near their airspace, according to the Romanian defence ministry.

"Two British Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft conducting Enhanced Air Policing mission scrambled at 02:00 from the 86th Air Base in Fetesti [Borcea Air Base]... The pilots were authorized to engage the drones," it said in a statement.

The Typhoons established radar contact with targets on Romania's eastern border with Ukraine, 1.5km from the Ukrainian city of Reni, the Romanians added.

At around 2.30am, an object was reported as falling in the Bariera Traian area of Romania, near the city of Galati, and drone fragments were later recovered.

Read more: Ukraine war latest

Sky News understands RAF jets did not shoot them down or enter Ukrainian airspace.

"Practically all night, ‌the Russians bombed Dnipro and our other cities and communities," Ukrainian ​President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media, adding that most of the targets were infrastructure.

He said there were also attacks in the Chernihiv, Odessa and Kharkiv regions.

Two bodies ​were recovered from a building in ⁠the southeastern city of Dnipro, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said, adding that five other people could ‌still be trapped in the rubble and another 21 people in the city were wounded.

In the ‌northern region of Chernihiv, missile and drone attacks killed two people and wounded seven others, while a further two people were wounded in the Odessa region, the respective local governors said.

Russian ‌forces ​also said they had captured the village of ​Bochkove ‌in Ukraine's ​northeastern Kharkiv region, the ​TASS ⁠state ⁠news agency ‌reported.

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Russia has been launching ⁠smaller barrages of dozens of drones ​every night at Ukraine, interspersing them with occasional ​large-scale attacks that use hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles.

Meanwhile, in Russia, a woman was killed and a man was seriously wounded by a drone strike in the border region of Belgorod, local officials said. A Ukrainian drone also hit an apartment building in Yekaterinburg, injuring several people.

The attacks followed a prisoner swap Friday, in which Russia and Ukraine exchanged 193 service members.

Russian drones in Romania

Some damage was reported to an outbuilding and an electricity pole in Romania, but there were no injuries.

Drone fragments have routinely ​fallen on Romania, which has a 400-mile (650km) land border with Ukraine, as Russia repeatedly breaches its airspace.

"The defence ministry firmly condemns the ⁠irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation and emphasises that these represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the ‌Black Sea area," the Romanian defence ministry's statement said.

Potential peace talks

Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks ​in ‌Azerbaijan ​on Saturday ⁠with ‌his counterpart Ilham Aliyev to sign agreements on defence and energy co-operation.

Kyiv is seeking to strengthen its diplomatic and security alliances by offering its experience ​in countering drone attacks with low-cost methods.

According to the Kyiv Post, Mr Zelenskyy spoke after his meeting about the potential for peace talks with Russia in Azerbaijan.

"It is very important for Ukraine that Russia find the strength to end this unjust war. We certainly highly value the role of our partners in mediating this process.

"We told the president of Azerbaijan that we are ready for trilateral talks. We had such talks in Turkey, and we had such talks with our American partners in Switzerland," Mr Zelenskyy said.