Kyiv was targeted early Wednesday by the “most powerful” barrage of missiles and drones since the spring, authorities said, with two people reported dead, as Russia claimed it destroyed 4 Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea carrying up to 50 soldiers, writes The Guardian.

More than 20 missiles and drones were “destroyed by air defence forces” overnight, the Kyiv City Military Administration wrote on Telegram, describing the aerial assault as “the most powerful” to hit the city since the spring.

Ukrainian drones swept across Russia in overnight attacks that damaged military aircraft and disrupted air traffic, Russian officials said early on Wednesday. Attacks by unmanned aircraft were reported in Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov and Ryazan regions as well as the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.

Russia’s defence ministry said that it had destroyed military boats in the Black Sea carrying up to 50 Ukrainian paratroops. An aircraft “destroyed four high-speed military boats” in the Black Sea around midnight Moscow time, the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram. The boats had been carrying “landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces with a total number of up to 50 people”, the ministry said. It did not give details on exactly where in the Black Sea the claimed incident took place.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a new package of military assistance to aid Ukraine. The package includes additional mine clearing equipment, missiles for air defense, ammunition for artillery and high bar systems, and over three million rounds of small arms ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

Russian shelling killed a 45-year-old civilian man in the Ukrainian town of Kupiansk, according to local officials, as Moscow’s forces try to advance in north-eastern Ukraine.

More than 1,300 schools have been totally destroyed in government-held areas of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Unicef has said.

Ukraine said on Tuesday that its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control over the village on the southern front.