Nighttime assaults on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv have intensified in the fourth year of Russia's full-scale invasion, with the number of drones sometimes exceeding 700. Swarms of 1,000 drones could soon become the norm,

Hundreds of Russian drones flying from all directions attacked Kyiv overnight into Thursday in an apparent new Russian tactic, marking a second consecutive night of ferocious attacks on Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight. That tops previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks.

The more drones in a single attack, Kuzan says, the more Ukraine hard-pressed air defence units struggle to shoot them down. This forces Kyiv to fall back on its precious supply of jets and air-to-air missiles to shoot them down.

Between January and June, the number of Russian drone and missile attacks exceeded 23,000, a roughly 605% increase compared to the same period last year.

Russia hit the Ukrainian city of Odesa with a daytime drone strike on Friday. At least 11 people were injured, according to authorities.

When Ukraine turned a corner of Russia’s Kursk region into a battlefield, it set in motion some of the war’s fiercest fighting. Our photographer documented the aftermath.