Breaking: Russia launches daytime mass attack on Ukraine with swarm of over 200 kamikaze drones

Russian forces launched a long-lasting combined attack on Ukraine's critical and civilian infrastructure on the afternoon of May 13, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said.

A Ukrainian monitoring channel "Monitor" published a map at around 12:30 p.m. indicating that groups of long-range drones entered Ukrainian airspace from Belarus, flying over the Chornobyl area toward the country's northwest.

Another group of drones entered Ukraine from the Black Sea and headed west toward the Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, and Ternopil oblasts, according to the monitoring channel.

Following the start of the large-scale drone strike, HUR said Russia had launched a "combined, long-lasting air strike on critical infrastructure" across Ukraine.

The first wave consisted of a large number of strike drones intended to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses and hit civilian targets. Yet Russian forces plan to follow up with a significant number of air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, as well as ballistic missiles, according to HUR.

"In this way, Russia, which has rejected proposals for a ceasefire, seeks once again to undermine Ukraine's resilience in the war for freedom," HUR said.

Ukraine's Air Force warned shortly before noon that drones were heading toward Kyiv from the north, around the time air raid sirens sounded across the capital. Explosions from air defense activity were heard shortly afterward.

A significant number of the drones appeared to be heading farther south and west toward the central Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, where Khmelnytskyi Oblast Military Governor Serhii Tiurin said on Telegram that air defenses were operating and that two people had been injured.

Local mayor Serhii Ananko reported air defense operations over the town of Smila in Cherkasy Oblast as of 12:08 p.m.