Russia launches biggest drone attack since invasion began, says Ukraine

Ukraine says Russia has launched its biggest drone attack since the full-scale invasion began, targeting several regions including Kyiv, where one woman died.

Russia had launched 273 drones by 08:00 Sunday (05:00 GMT) targeting the central Kyiv region and Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in the east, Ukraine’s air force said.

The barrage has come just a day before a scheduled call between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US President has been urging a ceasefire.

Russian and Ukraine had their first face-to-face talks in more than three years on Friday in Turkey, but it yielded little besides a new prisoner swap deal.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that he and leaders of Britain, France, and Poland would have a virtual meeting with Trump before his conversation with Putin on Monday morning.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia had launched a record number of drones, including Shahed attack drones, of which 88 were intercepted and another 128 went astray “without negative consequences”.

The strikes killed one person on the outskirts of Kyiv, and injured at least three others, officials reported.

The previous largest drone attack from Russia had taken place on the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion on 23 February, when Moscow launched 267 drones.

Ukraine officials said Saturday night’s strikes showed Russia had no intention of stopping the war, despite international pressure for a ceasefire.

“For Russia, the negotiations [on Friday] in Istanbul are just a pretence. Putin wants war,” said Andriy Yermak, a top aide to the Ukrainian president.

Volodymyr Zelensky was at the Vatican on Sunday where he had a private meeting with Pope Leo following the new pontiff’s inauguration mass. He also briefly met US Vice President JD Vance in Rome.