Ukraine said Russia launched almost 500 air strikes overnight, the largest total in more than three years of war, as Moscow continues to increase pressure on Kyiv ahead of an expected summer offensive and ongoing peace talks that have made little progress.
Ukraine's air force said in a statement that 479 drones and 20 missiles targeted sites around Ukraine in the early hours of June 9, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The country's air defense systems destroyed 460 of the drones as well as 19 of the missiles launched in the Russian barrage, it said, claiming only 10 drones hit their target.
Yuriy Ihnat, head of the communications department of the air force, said the main target of the Russian strikes was one of Ukraine's operational airfields. He did not specify which airfield, but Russian news agencies quoted the Defense Ministry as saying a facility near the village of Dubno, which is used in long-range air-launched weapons operations, was hit.
"The main strike was targeting...one of the operational air fields. There are some hits," Ihnat said in an interview with Ukrainian TV.
SEE ALSO: Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Still Pressing For Prisoner Swap, Accuses Putin Of 'Dirty' GamesKyiv said Ukraine launched its own overnight strikes, including an attack on a Russian electronics plant that manufactured weaponry for the Russian military.
Local officials in the Russian republic of Chuvashia confirmed that two drones hit a factory specializing in electronic warfare equipment in the region, located more than 600 kilometers east of Moscow.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on June 9 that it has intercepted 49 Ukrainian drones overnight in seven Russian regions. Kyiv has developed long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia.
A drone damaged a gas pipeline and caused a small fire in the Voronezh region, according to Governor Aleksandr Gusev, who also claimed 25 Ukrainian drones had been shot down in the region overnight.
Kyiv also claimed its special operation forces struck two Russian fighter jets stationed at the Savasleyka airfield in Russia's Novgorod region but did not say how the planes were attacked.
The claims by both sides cannot be independently verified.
Russia has escalated its aerial attacks on Ukraine in recent days, pounding the country with more than 400 drones and nearly 40 missiles on June 5. At least six people were reported killed and 80 others wounded across Ukraine on that wave of attack.
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Kharkiv Hit By Worst Russian Strikes Its Seen In War
The massive aerial strikes by Russia come amid a renewed battlefield by Moscow's forces on the eastern and northeastern parts of the front line, a situation described by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "very difficult."
"In some areas, the situation is very difficult, but everything depends on the resilience of our units," Zelenskyy said during his nightly address on June 8, but he didn't provide many details.
"Russian intentions do not change, and everything depends on our Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine -- on our soldiers, on everyone who helps the state," he added.
Ukraine also depends on the continued military assistance of its Western allies, but uncertainty about US policy on the war has cast doubt over how much support Kyiv can count on to defend itself against Russia.
SEE ALSO: More War, Less Money: What A Cut In Signing Bonuses May Reveal About Russia's Fight In UkraineRussia currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in Russian strikes since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the United Nations. But Russia claims it attacks military targets only.
Peace talks between the two sides have failed to achieve significant breakthroughs so far.
Two recent rounds of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul made ground on a new, large-scale prisoners exchange, but made no progress toward securing a ceasefire and ending the war.