Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday, June 29, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the three-year-old war. Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely due to being electronically jammed.
Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine’s air force, told the Associated Press that the overnight onslaught was “the most massive air strike” on the country, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles. The attack targeted several regions, 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.
Kherson regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said one person died in a drone strike. Six people were wounded in Cherkasy, including a child, according to regional Governor Ihor Taburets. In the Lviv region in the far west of Ukraine, a large-scale fire broke out at an industrial facility in the city of Drohobych following a drone attack that also forced parts of the city to lose power.
Ukraine’s air force also said one of the F-16 warplanes Ukraine received from its Western partners to help fight Russia’s invasion crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot died when the fighter jet went down.
The fresh attacks follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s saying Friday that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. However, the war shows no signs of abating as US-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.
Long-range drone strikes have been a hallmark of the war. The race by both sides to develop increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones has turned the conflict into a testing ground for new weaponry.
