Russia launches largest airstrike since start of the war, Ukraine officials say
A fresh wave of Russian airstrikes killed at least one person and wounded six others in Ukraine as hopes for a breakthrough in the efforts to end the three-year-old war were further dashed.
Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine's air force said. It was "the most massive airstrike" since the war began after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told The Associated Press
The air force said 249 drones were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
A view shows an apartment building damaged during Russian drone and missile strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Smila on June 29, 2025.
Press service of the National Police of Ukraine in Cherkasy region/Handout via REUTERS
The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line.
One person died in a drone strike in the Kherson region, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said, while another was killed when a drone hit a car in the Kharkiv region, according to its Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Six people were wounded in Cherkasy, including a child, according to regional Gov. Ihor Taburets.
In the far-western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also cut electricity to parts of the city.
Ukraine's air force said one of its F-16 warplanes supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died.
"The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude," the Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters.
Explosion lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 29, 2025.
Gleb Garanich / REUTERS
Russia's defense ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.
Two people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said Sunday morning, adding that seven Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the region.
Meanwhile, Russia claimed Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been slowly grinding forward at some points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, though their incremental gains have been costly in terms of troop casualties and damaged armor.
In other developments, Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said he had spoken on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
"I had a phone call with my American counterpart and we reserved for each other the possibility to call at any time and discuss issues of interest to us," Naryshkin said in remarks to state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, who posted them on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
People take shelter inside a metro station during a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 29, 2025.
Yan Dobronosov / REUTERS
Sunday's attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments two days ago that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.
However, the war shows no signs of abating as U.S.-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough. Two recent rounds of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
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