Hundreds of Russian drones and more than a dozen missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday, killing two people in a second massive air strike on Ukraine in two days as Kyiv seeks critical aid from its partners at a meeting in Rome.

Russia launched its largest drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia fired a record 728 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, as well as 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said, in the latest escalation after weeks of mounting Russian aerial and ground attacks in the more than three-year war.