KYIV – Russia carried out its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022, launching 537 airborne weapons overnight, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. The barrage included 477 drones and decoys along with 60 missiles, many of which targeted areas far from the front lines.
Ukraine’s air force reported that 249 of the aerial weapons were intercepted, while 226 were likely jammed electronically. Despite defense efforts, the scale and spread of the attack marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict. Poland and its allies scrambled fighter jets to safeguard their airspace during the offensive.
The airstrikes caused widespread damage and casualties across several regions. In Kherson and Kharkiv, drone attacks killed two people, while six others were injured in Cherkasy, including a child. In the Lviv region, a drone strike triggered a massive fire at an industrial site and disrupted electricity in parts of Drohobych.
Tragically, one of Ukraine’s Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets crashed during the operation, reportedly after being damaged while intercepting targets. The pilot was killed. Meanwhile, drone strikes continued throughout Sunday, killing a 72-year-old man in Dnipropetrovsk.
In retaliation, Ukraine launched drone strikes into western Russia. Russia’s defense ministry claimed it downed seven Ukrainian drones over Bryansk, though two civilians were injured. Separately, Moscow claimed its forces captured the village of Novoukrainka in the Donetsk region, as fighting continues along the vast 1,000-kilometer front.
Despite recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing readiness for fresh peace talks in Istanbul, the conflict shows no signs of slowing. Two earlier rounds of negotiations in Turkey ended without progress, as both sides continue deadly drone warfare and ground battles with heavy casualties.