Russia says it downs 96 Ukrainian drones, some Moscow airports halt flights
MOSCOW: Russia's defence ministry said on Monday that air defence systems had downed 96 Ukrainian drones, including six over Moscow region.
Russia launches war's largest air attack on Ukraine, kills at least 12 people
Moscow's Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports temporarily halted flights, Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said.
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Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Russia says shot down 162 Ukrainian drones overnight
MOSCOW: Russia intercepted 162 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday, hours before Kyiv and Moscow were to start a second round of direct talks in Turkiye. 'Air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 162 Ukrainian drones' between 1710 GMT and 2300 GMT on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement. The majority of the drones were shot down over regions bordering Ukraine, with 57 intercepted over the Kursk region and 31 over the Belgorod region, it said. Russian attacks kill five in Zaporizhzhia, injure several in Kharkiv, regional officials say The barrage came hours before Ukrainian and Russian delegations were to sit down for talks in Istanbul, the second round of direct talks between the two sides since the weeks after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. It also came a day after Kyiv said it carried out one of its most brazen and successful attacks on Russian soil, hitting dozens of strategic bombers parked at airbases deep inside Russia, thousands of kilometres behind the frontline.
Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Russian jets destroyed in Ukraine drone strikes
Smoke rises above the area following a drone attack on a military unit in the Irkutsk region of Russia. Photo: Reuters Listen to article Ukraine said in a spectacular claim on Sunday it destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars in a "large-scale" drone assault on enemy soil as it geared up for talks with Moscow counterparts to explore prospects for a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the "absolutely brilliant" drone attack launched on Russian air bases, saying it inflicted tangible losses on Moscow. He said that 117 drones had been used to attack the Russian bases. Ukraine said the strike on the eve of peace talks damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres away, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke. A source in the Ukrainian security services said the drones were concealed in the ceilings of shipping containers, which were opened up to release them for the assault. The long-planned operation came at a delicate moment three years into Russia's invasion. "An absolutely brilliant outcome. And an outcome produced by Ukraine independently," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app and a video address. He noted the operation took more than a year and half to prepare. "This is our longest-range operation. Russia has had very tangible losses." Zelensky said that he was sending a delegation to Istanbul led by his Defence Minister Rustem Umerov for talks on Monday with Russian officials. Turkey is hosting the meeting, which was spurred by US President Donald Trump's push for a quick deal to end the three-year war. A source in Ukraine's SBU security service said the coordinated attacks inside Russia were "aimed at destroying enemy bombers far from the front". The SBU source added that the strikes targeted Russian airbases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya, in the Arctic near Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow. More than 40 aircraft had been hit at the Belaya base and a fire had broken out there, the source said, showing a video in which several aircraft could be seen in flames and black smoke rising. AFP was not able to independently verify the claims or the video images. Russia's defence ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft "caught fire". Rybar, an account on the Telegram message platform that is close to the Russian military, called it a "very heavy blow" for Moscow and pointed to what it called "serious errors" by Russian intelligence. Russia's defence ministry said that there were no casualties and that several "participants" had been arrested. Igor Kobzev, Governor of Russia's Irkutsk region, which hosts the targeted Belaya airbase, said it was "the first attack of this sort in Siberia". On Sunday, Ukraine's air force said it was hit by 472 Russian drones and seven missiles overnighta record since the beginning of the invasion. In a rare admission of its military losses, the Ukraine army said Russia's "missile strike on the location of one of the training units" had killed a dozen soldiers, most of whom had been in shelters during the attack, and wounded more than 60. The attack led Ukrainian ground forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty to announce his resignation, saying he felt "responsibility" for the soldiers' deaths. Separately on Sunday, the Russian army said it had captured another village in Ukraine's northern Sumy region, where Kyiv fears Moscow could mount a fresh ground assault. Russia claims to have captured several settlements in the region in recent weeks, and has massed more than 50,000 soldiers on the other side of the border, according to Zelensky. Authorities in the region have evacuated more than 200 villages amid intensified shelling. In Russia, officials said a blast brought down a road bridge in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine on Saturday, derailing a passenger train heading to Moscow and killing seven people. A separate rail bridge in the neighbouring Kursk region was blown up hours later in the early hours of Sunday, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver. Authorities did not say who was behind the explosions, but investigators said a criminal inquiry was underway.
Business Recorder
8 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Russia and Ukraine step up the war on eve of peace talks
MOSCOW/KYIV: On the eve of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply ramped up the war with one of the biggest drone battles of their conflict, a Russian highway bridge blown up over a passenger train and an ambitious attack on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia. After days of uncertainty over whether or not Ukraine would even attend, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials at the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. The first round of the talks more than a week ago yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war - but no sense of any consensus on how to halt the fighting. Amid talk of peace, though, there was much war. At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge in Russia's Bryansk region, neighbouring Ukraine, was blown up over a passenger train heading to Moscow with 388 people on board. No one has yet claimed responsibility. Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at a military base deep in Siberia on Sunday, a Ukrainian intelligence official said, the first such attack so far from the front lines more than 4,300 km (2,670 miles) away. The official said the operation involved hiding explosive-laden drones inside the roofs of wooden sheds and loading them onto trucks that were driven to the perimeter of the air bases. A total of 41 Russian warplanes were hit, the official said. RUSSIA ACKNOWLEDGES AIR BASE ATTACKS, SAYS FIRES PUT OUT Ukraine did not tell the Trump administration about the attack in advance, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official. Russia's Defence Ministry acknowledged on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine had launched drone strikes against Russian military airfields across five regions on Sunday. It said the attacks repelled the assaults in all but two regions — Murmansk in the far north and Irkutsk in Siberia - where 'the launch of FPV drones from an area in close proximity to airfields resulted in several aircraft catching fire'. The fires were extinguished without casualties. Some individuals involved in the attacks had been detained, the ministry said. Russia launched 472 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said, the highest nightly total of the war so far. Russia had also launched seven missiles, the air force said. Russia said it had advanced deeper into the Sumy region of Ukraine, and open source pro-Ukrainian maps showed Russia took 450 square km of Ukrainian land in May, its fastest monthly advance in at least six months.
