Russia launched its largest attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlograd early Saturday, part of a major wave of attacks across the country involving hundreds of kamikaze drones and ballistic missiles.

The six-hour bombardment was the worst in the city's history. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergei Lysak, said that a factory was damaged, a fire station was destroyed and a five-story residential building was hit.

A hellish night and a hellish morning for Pavlograd. The most intense attack on the city. One explosion after another. Russian terrorists targeted it with missiles and drones, he said.

Drones could be heard flying over Pavlograd in the early hours of Saturday morning. There were muffled booms and orange explosions lighting up the night sky. The streets echoed with machine gun fire as anti-aircraft units tried to shoot them down.

They were waiting for the US envoy to leave.

The attack came shortly after Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, returned to Washington after a six-day visit to Kiev. The White House this week announced a large-scale arms package to Ukraine, including additional Patriot anti-aircraft systems, to be paid for by European allies.

The Kremlin refrained from carrying out large-scale bombing while Kellogg was in the country. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised on Friday that Moscow would escalate its air strikes in response to the latest EU sanctions package, which was agreed after Slovakia's pro-Kremlin government withdrew its objections.

Why did you choose Pavlograd?

Pavlograd is a strategic hub for the Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian troops are close to seizing territory in the region, which borders Donetsk Oblast, for the first time since Vladimir Putin's invasion in 2022. They have seized several neighboring villages in recent days.

Russian forces also targeted the Black Sea port of Odessa early Saturday, setting fire to a nine-story apartment building, the city's mayor said. Five people were rescued from the top floor and one woman later died.

The mayor of Odessa wrote on Telegram that at least 20 drones had converged on the city, a frequent target of Russian airstrikes. The political structure has been damaged as a result of the attack, he said. A high-rise apartment building has caught fire. Rescuers are pulling people out of the flames.

Ukraine's new Prime Minister, Yulia Sviridenko, said Moscow had launched another brutal attack on Odessa and other Ukrainian cities. One person was killed, many others were injured, families were destroyed. This is the price of hesitation. Without a bold response, the blows will come again, she said.

Trump accelerates Patriot mission, putting Germany first

At the same time, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration has prioritized Germany for the delivery of the next Patriot systems. The move aims to send Berlin two Patriots that it already has in Ukraine.

The US promise to quickly replace Germany's Patriots is the first time the Pentagon has facilitated the delivery of weapons to Ukraine since President Trump announced earlier this month that he favored sending more weapons.

But the move also highlighted the difficulty in providing Patriots and other weapons to Kiev, as defense production lines in the West struggle to keep up with Ukraine's calls for help defending cities and frontline forces from increasing Russian missile and drone attacks.

The effort to speed up Patriots in Ukraine by replenishing Germany with systems from the American production line is consistent with Trump's vow to have NATO allies pay the US as part of providing additional weapons for Ukraine.

The initial deal is similar to a move made in 2024 by the Biden administration, which moved Ukraine to the front line of receiving air defense interceptors directly from the US.

As additional countries sign on to send Patriots from their arsenals to Ukraine, the Trump administration will further reshape planned future deliveries, prioritizing those allies, a senior U.S. official said.