Russia launches largest airstrike on Ukraine since war began
Russia has launched its largest air attack on Ukraine since 2022, deploying over 500 drones across multiple cities on Saturday.
The attacks impacted Kyiv, Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Mykolaiv, with photos and videos shared by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's Air Force confirmed one F-16 pilot was killed, though 475 of the 537 aerial targets were successfully shot down.
In response to the six-hour assault, Poland scrambled its NATO jets and activated its ground-based air defence systems.
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Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Cancel military aid to Ukraine, says transport union
The RMT transport union has called for Britain to stop giving military aid to Ukraine. A motion titled The Labour Movement Stands for Peace was submitted by the union's Paddington branch, urged Labour ministers to 'commit to work for a diplomatic, negotiated, lasting peace settlement'. Passed at the RMT's annual meeting last week in Manchester, it said: 'Despite the defeat of the Conservative government by the Labour Party at the 2024 general election, Britain continues to play a belligerent role in international relations by supplying British-made weapons, military support, credit and billions of pounds in public funding in trying and failing to achieve a military defeat for Russia in Ukraine. 'We reject the politics of lower living standards and cuts in living standards to fund a policy of unending and escalating war that last year took us to the brink of nuclear Armageddon.' The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign said news of the motion passing was 'very bad' and added on X: 'This is a union with an unusually strong Stop the War and particularly Communist Party of Britain influence in its leadership and apparatus. 'In the run-up to the AGM, we helped pro-Ukraine RMT members renew and extend contacts with rail workers in Ukraine.' A spokesman for the RMT said: 'The motion was calling for a de-escalation of war zones across the world from Gaza, Yemen and Iran as well as Ukraine. 'As many commentators from Left and Right have commented, pouring billions into the Ukraine war zone will not create the conditions for peace negotiations but simply make them harder to achieve. 'The RMT does not support the Russian invasion of Ukraine but pouring weapons into one side against the other is counterproductive to creating the conditions for a peaceful solution.' Posing with pro-Putin separatists Eddie Dempsey, who replaced Mike Lynch as general secretary earlier in 2025, has faced questions after posing with pro-Putin separatists in eastern Ukraine. Mr Dempsey visited eastern Ukraine in 2015, where he posed for a picture with Aleksey Mozgovoy, a commander in the 'Ghost Brigade' of pro-Russian separatists branded a terrorist organisation by Ukraine's supreme court. At the time, an RMT spokesman said: 'The union does not support either Vladimir Putin or his actions in Ukraine, and we are backing global union pressure for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.' Mr Dempsey said: 'I fully agree with the union's position.' Meanwhile, Mr Lynch was in 2024 accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda after he claimed the EU had provoked trouble in Ukraine before Russia's invasion. In an interview with the New Statesman, he said: 'There were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine. And while they were doing that, there were an awful lot of people [in Ukraine] playing with Nazi imagery, and going back to the [Second World] War, and all that.'
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Russia has launched biggest air attack of the three-year war, Kyiv says
Russia has fired more than 500 aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that Kyiv described as the biggest air attack so far of the three-year war. Ukraine's air force said on Sunday that Russia had fired 477 drones and decoys as well as 60 missiles overnight. While 475 of these were shot down or lost, the onslaught marked the 'most massive airstrike' on the country since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, told the Associated Press. The bombing appeared to target several regions far from the frontline, he said, including in western Ukraine. The Russian army said on Sunday its overnight attack hit Ukrainian military-industrial complex sites and oil refineries, and that it had intercepted three Ukrainian drones overnight. The scale of the attacks called into question comments made on Friday by Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian president said that Moscow was ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Sunday that the barrage of bombs in fact showed that Putin had decided to pursue war. 'Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes,' Zelenskyy wrote on social media. In the past week alone, Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than 114 missiles, more than 1,270 drones and nearly 1,100 glide bombs, he said. 'This war must be brought to an end – pressure on the aggressor is needed, and so is protection,' he added. 'Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defence – the thing that best protects lives.' He reiterated Ukraine's willingness to buy US air defence systems, adding that his country counted on the 'leadership, political will, and support of the United States, Europe and all our partners'. Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said an F-16 warplane supplied by its western partners had crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets, killing the pilot. '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 Telegram. The pilot did not have time to eject, it added. Local officials in Ukraine said the strikes had killed two people and injured at least 12, including two children. As air raid sirens rang out across the country, residents in Kyiv took refuge in bomb shelters and metro stations, while in the city of Drohobych, in the western Lviv region, a large fire broke out at an industrial facility after a drone attack that cut electricity to parts of the city. Explosions were heard in Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and the Ivano-Frankivsk regions, witnesses and regional governors told Reuters. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Russia's escalating campaign comes as talks on ending the fighting remain largely at an impasse. Two recent rounds between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul yielded no progress. On Sunday, Ukraine's presidential website said the country had begun the process of withdrawing from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. A senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said on social media that parliamentary approval was still needed. 'This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,' he said. 'Russia is not a party to this convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians. We cannot remain tied down in an environment where the enemy has no restrictions.' In recent months, and to an outcry from anti-mine campaigners, five European countries have announced similar plans to withdraw from the 1997 landmark mine ban treaty, citing concerns about the growing threat of Russia.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Russia launches largest airstrike on Ukraine since start of the war
Russia launched its 'most massive airstrike' on Ukraine since the start of the war as part of an escalating bombing campaign, dashing hopes of a ceasefire. Air raid alerts sounded 'almost all night long' on Saturday (28 June( as Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones - mostly Russian-Iranian Shaheds with a number of decoys - and 60 missiles. The attack targeted several regions, including west Ukraine, far from the front line. Ukraine's air force said it had managed to shoot down 249 and a further 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed. At least six people died in the strikes. Three were killed in drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Another person was killed in Kostyantynivka, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region. An F-16 pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, was killed after destroying seven aerial targets as his warplane, supplied by Western allies, crashed after sustaining damage. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree to posthumously award Ustymenko the award of the Order of the Gold Star as he passed on condolences to the pilot's family and brothers-in-arms. An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of his death. Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for Ukraine's air force, declared the onslaught the 'most massive airstrike' on the country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion. It was also the first time Russia has sent more than 500 drones after the Kyiv Independent warned that Moscow was ramping up military production and building new launch sites at the start of June. 'Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes,' Zelensky said, citing that just this week alone Russia has launched 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. This war must be brought to an end — pressure on the aggressor is needed, and so is protection. 'Protection from ballistic and other missiles, from drones, and from terror. Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defense — the thing that best protects lives. ' These are American systems, which we are ready to buy. We count on leadership, political will, and the support of the United States, Europe, and all our partners. I thank everyone who is helping.' Poland and other allied countries scrambled aircrafts to ensure the safety of Polish airspace in the midst of the shelling. Sunday's attacks follow Putin's claims that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement.
