Russia hits Ukraine with its most intense wartime drone assault over a two-day period.

Russia launched its biggest aerial assault over a two-day span since the start of the war in Ukraine, striking Kyiv and other cities with hundreds of drones, Ukrainian officials reported on Thursday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that Russia has launched 1,567 drones since Wednesday, with officials confirming at least 15 civilian deaths over the past two days.

He said Moscow had launched more than 670 attack drones and 56 missiles overnight, and air defence units shot down 41 of the missiles and 652 ​drones, the air force said.

“These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end,” Zelenskiy said.

It’s important that partners speak up about this strike, and just as important to keep supporting the protection of our skies.

At least nine people, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed in Kyiv. Six people were killed in a daytime attack focused on ​western Ukraine on Wednesday, officials said.

Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands and ravaged swathes of Ukraine, has ​continued despite a U.S.-backed peace push although Moscow’s battlefield advances have stalled this year.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on Thursday’s attacks.

Kyiv was the main target of the overnight strikes, Zelenskiy said, adding that there was damage across 20 locations in the city and also in the Kyiv region. About 40 people including two children were wounded, officials ​said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a day of mourning in the capital on Friday.

Dozens of emergency workers were cutting through concrete at the site ​of a Russian drone strike on a nine-story residential building where an entire section had been destroyed.

Zelenskiy said that nearly 20 people were still missing as rescuers cleared the ‌debris.

“There were ⁠people there, children. What happened to them? You have to understand, an entire building collapsed,” Alla Komisarova, 74, a pensioner, told Reuters on the site of the strike, holding back tears.