The overnight attack was one of the largest on Ukraine and included strikes in the western part of the country, which is hit less often.

The air force said 436 drones and 38 missiles were downed by air defenses, with the help of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets whose pilots shot down "dozens" of attack drones. "The work of Ukrainian fighters is extremely dangerous," it said.

The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a report published Thursday that short-range drone attacks killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between the start of the war and last April. Almost 90% of the attacks were by the Russian armed forces, it reported.