Russia launches the biggest aerial attack since the start of the war, Ukraine says – Chicago Tribune

Kyiv, Ukraine – Russia launched its greatest air attack on Ukraine overnight, said a Ukrainian official on Sunday, part of a growing bombing campaign that has disturbed hope of a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3 year war.

Russia has drawn a total of 537 air weapons in Ukraine, including 477 drones and lures and 60 missiles, said Ukraine Air Force. Among these, 249 were killed and 226 were lost, having probably been stuck electronically.

The assault was “the most massive air strike” in the country since the start of the Russian large -scale invasion in February 2022, taking into account drones and various types of missiles, told The Associated Press, head of communications for Ukraine. The attack has targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line.

The countries of Poland and the Allies scrambled the planes to ensure the security of Polish airspace, said the country’s air force.

According to the three governors, three people were killed in each of the drone strikes in the regions of Kherson, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, according to the three governors.

Another person was killed by an air strike in Kostyantynivka, local officials said. In addition to air attacks, a man died when Russian troops bombed the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70 -year -old woman was found under the rubble of a nine -story building struck by Russian bombardments in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In the Far West Lviv region, a large fire broke out in an industrial installation of the city of Drohobych after a drone attack which also reduces electricity in certain parts of the city.

Ukraine said one of its F-16 war planes provided by its Western partners crashed after having suffered damage while cutting air targets. The pilot is dead.

Russian troops would have advanced in Donetsk

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.

Two people were injured in another Ukrainian drone attack against the city of Bryansk in western Russia, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Sunday morning, adding that seven other Ukrainian drones had been killed over the region.

Meanwhile, Russia said on Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the Donetsk region, partially occupied by Russia.

The Russian forces slowly climbed forward at certain times on the front line of approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), although their additional gains were expensive in terms of victims of troops and damaged armor.

In other developments, Russia’s foreign intelligence chief Sergei Jolyshkin said he spoke on the phone with his American counterpart, CIA director John Ratcliffe.

“I had a telephone call with my American counterpart and we reserved each other the possibility of calling at any time and discussing questions of interest for us,” said Jarkinkin in remarks to the journalist of the Pavel Zarubin State TV, who displayed them on her telegram channel on Sunday.

Sunday’s attacks follow the comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin two days ago that Moscow is ready for a new series of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Two recent series of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul have been brief and have produced no progress to reach a regulation.

Zelenskyy withdraws from Ukraine from an anti-territy mine pact

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention prohibiting anti -personnel land mines, Ukrainian legislator said on Sunday. This decision follows similar recent stages of the Baltic States and Poland.

The 1997 Treaty prohibits the use, production, storage and transfer of anti -personnel land mines in order to protect civilians from explosives that can mutilate or kill long after the end of the fighting.

“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded,” said Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence. He noted that Russia has not gone to the Convention “and massively use mines against our soldiers and civilians”.

Originally published: June 29, 2025 at 12:26 cdt