In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on March 24, 2026, a woman walks past damaged cars in the courtyard of a damaged residential building following an air attack in Poltava, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Emergency Service / AFP)
Moscow: Russia on Wednesday said a Ukrainian attack sparked a fire at a major port in the country's northwest in a barrage of almost 400 drones, launched a day after a record Russian aerial assault on Ukraine.
A power plant in Estonia was also hit by a drone that had flown into the NATO member from Russian airspace, while another crashed into Latvian territory, with officials in Riga saying that it was likely a Ukrainian drone gone astray.
The attack came after Russia fired nearly 1,000 drones at Ukraine over a 24-hour period starting late Monday, killing a total of eight people across the country, hitting the historic centre of Lviv and residential houses in western Ukraine during Tuesday evening rush hour.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed what he called Russia's "absolute depravity" and vowed a response to the pummelling.
Russia's defence ministry said Wednesday that its air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed 389 Ukrainian drones overnight, mostly in regions that border Ukraine as well as around Moscow.
The attack triggered a fire at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, an oil exporting hub on the Gulf of Finland, close to Russia's border with Estonia.
The blaze was "being brought under control" regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said on social media, adding that no casualties had been reported.
Drozdenko did not specify which part of the port had been hit. The facility is a major hub for Russian fertilisers, oil and coal exports.
There was no comment from Ukraine's military on the attack.
Earlier this week Ukraine hit another of Russia's major Baltic Sea port -- Primorsk -- triggering a large fire that poured thick black smoke into the air, visible from satellite images.
'No real progress'
A Ukrainian rocket attack also dealt "serious damage" to electricity and water facilities in the Russian border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Ukraine has been intensifying its retaliatory attacks on Russia's infrastructure -- including refineries, oil depots and ports -- in past weeks, calling it fair retribution and an attempt to cut Russia's energy proceeds that fund its war effort.
EU and NATO member Estonia said on Wednesday a drone coming from Russian airspace hit a chimney of the Auvere power plant, near the town of Narva on the Russian border, causing no injuries.
"These are the effects of Russia's large-scale war of aggression," said Estonia's Internal Security Service Director General Margo Palloson, expressing concern about "the occurrence of such incidents in the future".
Neighbouring Latvia also said a drone had entered its airspace "from Russia", but that no damage or casualties were reported.
According to the preliminary information, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said the drone was likely Ukrainian.
The escalation in strikes comes as US-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv appear to have stalled amid the war in the Middle East.
Ukraine sent a delegation to the United States last weekend in a bid to revive the negotiation process, but the effort yielded no immediate result.
"Unfortunately, there is no real progress as yet," Zelensky said on Tuesday after meeting with his negotiating team back from the talks.
"Russia does not want to move towards peace," he added.
