Russia -Ukraine war: Russia launched 477 drones and 60 missiles on Ukraine overnight in the biggest aerial attack since the start of the war amid the soaring tensions between the two nations.
Ukrainian officials described the attack as the ‘most massive air strike’.
The attack comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s saying that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.
The F-16 warplane Ukraine received from its Western partners was also downed in the Russian attack, while the pilot died as the fighter jet went down.
The deadly assault is a part of Russia’s escalating bombing campaign, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday.
Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine’s air force, told the Associated Press that Russia’s overnight onslaught was “the most massive air strike” on Ukraine, taking into account both the drones and missiles fired as part of the attack.
Attack rages across Ukraine; Poland scrambled aircraft to ensure safety
Russia’s attack targeted regions across Ukraine, including western Ukraine, far from the frontline.
Poland and allied countries scrambled aircraft to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish air force said Sunday.
Out of the total 537 weapons that Russia fired at Ukraine, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed, the Ukraine Air Force said, reported news agencies.
‘Russians were targeting everything…’
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a clip of the assault on X, claiming that the “Russians were targeting everything that sustains life.”
Zelenskyy said that almost all night, air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine, as Russia pounded with majorly Russian-Iranian Shahed drones along with 60 missiles of various types.
Russia’s lethal aerial assault comes a day after the nation had amassed 1,10,000 troops in the vicinity of Pokrovsk – which Moscow considers a strategic target.
The renewed wave of attacks also follows Russia President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Moscow was open to resuming peace talks in Istanbul. The ongoing escalation, however, shows no signs of abating as US-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough.
“Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes. Just this week alone, there have been more than 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs. Putin long ago decided he would keep waging war, despite the world’s calls for peace,” Zelensky wrote on X, on Sunday, June 29.
Two recent rounds of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
