KYIV, Ukraine, March 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine downed 26 drones overnight as Russia launched its latest salvo of aerial attacks, a senior Ukrainian military official said on Thursday.

"On the night of March 28, 2024, the enemy launched a missile air strike against Ukraine using three Kh-22 cruise missiles and an Kh-31P anti-radar missile (from the Black Sea), an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile (Donetsk) and 28 attack UAVs of the 'Shahed-136/131' type", Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraine's air force, wrote on Telegram.

"Twenty-six attack UAVs of the 'Shahed-136/131' type were destroyed within Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions", he said, without providing details on the missile strikes.

Russia regularly launches air attacks on Ukraine overnight and has escalated the strikes over the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure, including power stations, in retaliation for fatal bombardments of Russia's border regions.

On Wednesday Russian strikes killed three people in eastern and southern Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Ukraine's allies to speed up deliveries of warplanes and air defence systems to bolster Kyiv's air defences.