bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Ukraine said Sunday that its drones destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia in its longest-range assault of the war, as it geared up for talks on prospects for a ceasefire.
In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged US$7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres across the border, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke.
A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.
The drones were concealed in the ceilings of transport containers that were opened remotely for the assault, the source added.

The long-planned operation came at a delicate moment three years into Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday 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.
Zelensky, who previously voiced scepticism about whether Russia was serious in proposing Monday’s meeting, said priorities included “a complete and unconditional ceasefire” and the return of prisoners and abducted children.
Russia, which has rejected previous ceasefire requests, said it had formulated its own peace terms but refused to divulge them in advance.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Sunday about “several initiatives aimed at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, including Monday’s talks, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the Tass news agency.

Zelensky on Sunday hailed “brilliant” results of the coordinated attack, code-named “Spider’s Web”, which he said had used 117 drones and was the country’s “most long-range operation” in more than three years of war.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft “caught fire”, adding that there were no casualties.
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.
The SBU source said 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.
The operation was prepared for over a year and a half, the SBU source said, and aimed to destroy “enemy bombers far from the front”.

Zelensky said one of the targeted locations was right next to one of the offices of the FSB Russian security services.
Russia said it had arrested several suspects, including the driver of a truck from which a drone had taken off, state agencies said.
But Zelensky said people involved in preparing the attacks were “extracted from Russian territory in time”.
Igor Kobzev, governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya airbase, said it was “the first attack of this sort in Siberia”.
He called on the population not to panic and posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone in the sky and a large cloud of grey smoke.
Russia has been announcing Ukrainian drone attacks on a near-daily basis, usually saying they had all been shot down.

At the same time, Russia has been carrying out constant attacks on Ukraine.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it was hit by 472 Russian drones and seven missiles overnight, a record number since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.
In a rare admission of its military losses, the Ukrainian 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 renewed ground assault.


Drones spotted near Zelensky’s flight path to Dublin spark security alert

Trump says next steps for Ukraine talks unclear after Putin meeting

Russia says no Ukraine compromise reached after Putin meets Trump envoys Witkoff, Kushner

Cook Islands: a Pacific haven for sanctions-dodging Russian and Iranian oil tankers?

Ukraine war

Ukraine strikes Russian airbases in long-range drone assault on eve of new talks

In this image taken from video released June 1, 2025, by a source in the Ukrainian Security Service shows a Ukrainian drone striking Russian planes deep in Russia’s territory. Photo: SBU via AP

The head of the Ukrainian security services, Vasyl Malyuk, studying pictures and a map of Russia’s strategic aviation. Photo: SBU via EPA-EFE

A drone lifts off from wooden sheds on a truck that was driven to the perimeter of an airbase, in Mal’ta, Irkutsk Region, Russia. Photo: Social media via Reuters 

Ukrainian military drones. Photo: SBU via AFP

Smoke rises following what local authorities called a drone attack on a military unit in Irkutsk region, Russia. Photo: Governor of Irkutsk Region Igor Kobzev via Telegram

Russia accuses Serbia of betrayal for supplying arms to Ukraine

Ukrainian servicemen train for combat. Photo: Ukraine’s 65th Mechanised Brigade via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Kremlin in Moscow this month. Photo: AFP

Boxes of ammunition for the AK-47, popularly known as ‘Kalashnikov’. File photo: AP 

Russia planning new Ukraine offensive after record drone strikes, Zelensky says

Ukrainian recruits training ahead of deployment. Photo: 65th Mechanized Brigade via EPA-EFE

A resident stands on the terrace of a damaged flat following a drone strike in Kyiv. Photo: AFP

An drone explosion lights up the sky over Kyiv during a Russian air attack. Photo: Reuters

Russia and Ukraine complete prisoner swap hours after Moscow launches major aerial assault

Ukrainian prisoner of war Viktor embraces his daughter Milana and wife Iryna as he returns after a prisoner swap in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Rescuers extinguish a fire at a house destroyed by a Russian strike in Markhalivka, Kyiv region, Ukraine on Sunday. Photo: AP

Emergency workers extinguish a fire in the debris of a private house that was destroyed in a Russian rocket strike in Markhalivka, Kyiv region, Ukraine on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Women put flowers by the rubble of a destroyed house where three children were killed by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine on Sunday. Photo: AP

News

World

Europe

Russia & Central Asia

Ukraine said it damaged US$7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases in ‘operation Spider’s Web’


Ukraine said it damaged US$7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases in ‘operation Spider’s Web’.
