Ukraine war live: ‘Over 40’ Russian planes destroyed in drone attack as Putin’s airbases targeted

Russian shelling and an air attack killed four people in areas outside the southeastern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said on Sunday.

Ivan Fedorov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said three women died in a series of Russian shelling incidents targeting the village of Ternuvate, east of Zaporizhzhia. A shop and several homes were badly damaged.

A man died in a nearby district in a Russian strike by a guided aerial bomb, Fedorov said. A private home was destroyed.

Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Ukraine’s operation against Russian airfields struck one third of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases.

“Today, a brilliant operation was carried out. The preparation took over a year and a half,” he wrote on X alongside his Sunday evening address.

“What’s most interesting, is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located directly next to FSB headquarters in one of their regions.

“In total, 117 drones were used in the operation with a corresponding number of drone operators involved. 34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases were hit. We will continue this work.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said Russian forces captured Oleksiivka in Ukraine’s Sumy region.

It comes a day after the ministry claimed its forces captured two villages in eastern Ukraine – Novopil in Donetsk region and Vodolagy in Sumy region.

The Independent could not verify battlefield reports.

Hundreds of villages are under evacuation orders in the region amid fears that Russia could launch a significant offensive from the northeast.

Russia launched 472 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday, the highest nightly total of the war so far.

The air force said in a statement that Russia had also launched seven missiles.

It added that 382 of the drones were shot down or otherwise neutralised, along with three of the missiles.

Russia has recently stepped up the amount of drones it launches at Ukraine in its regular nightly barrages.

Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the “absolutely brilliant” operation against Russian warplanes, saying it will “undoubtedly be in [the[ history books”.

“A result achieved solely by Ukraine. One year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution. Our most long-range operation,” Mr Zelensky said

The Ukrainian agents involved in the operation were successfully extracted from Russian territory, he added.

Appearing to refer to the fact that a limited number of videos have so far been released – with analysts saying they cannot independently verify Kyiv’s claim that 41 planes were destroyed – Mr Zelensky said: “I instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to inform the public about the details and results of the operation that can be disclosed.

“Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books.”

In a later post on X, Mr Zelensky claimed one third of Russian strategic cruise carriers were destroyed.

“In total, 117 drones were used in the operation with a corresponding number of drone operators involved. 34 per cent of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases were hit. We will continue this work.”

Dozens of Russian military aircraft have been destroyed in an unprecedented Ukrainian drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia, Kyiv has said.

The so-called ‘Spider Web’ operation, carried out by Ukraine’s SBU security service, saw drones smuggled thousands of kilometres into Russian territory using lorries, before they were unleashed to destroy more than 40 warplanes, the SBU said.

Vladimir Putin will be “infuriated” by the “unprecedented” attack if it is as damaging as Kyiv claims, Russia expert John Lough told The Independent, describing it as a “huge win” for Ukraine that will boost morale within the military.

The commander of Ukraine’s land forces, one of the most senior positions in the country’s armed forces, announced on Sunday that he was tendering his resignation, citing a lethal strike on Ukrainian military training facility.

Ukrainian negotiators will present to the Russian side a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement in Istanbul, according to a copy of the document seen by news agency Reuters.

The proposed roadmap begins with a full ceasefire of at least 30 days, to be followed by the return of all prisoners held by each side, and of Ukrainian children taken into Russian-held territory, and then a meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Under the blueprint, Moscow and Kyiv – with the participation of the United States and Europe – will work to hash out the terms on which they can agree to put a complete end to their three-year-old war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

Ukrainian officials said earlier this week that they had sent the blueprint to the Russian side in advance of the Istanbul talks.

A source from Ukraine’s SBU security agency has claimed an airfield more than 4,000 kilometres inside Russia was struck, in what has been hailed as an unprecedented wave of drone strikes.

Here’s what the source told The Kyiv Independent about how the attack was carried out.

Ukraine will send a delegation to Istanbul for a new round of direct peace talks with Russia on Monday, president Volodymyr Zelensky said, even as Russia pounded Ukraine with a missile strike that killed 12 soldiers and the biggest drone assault of the three-year war.

In a statement on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Sunday that defense minister Rustem Umerov will lead the Ukrainian delegation. “We are doing everything to protect our independence, our state and our people,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian officials had previously called on the Kremlin to provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the war before the meeting takes place. Moscow had said it would share its memorandum during the talks.