Russia launched 273 kamikaze Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight in a series of brutal strikes just days after the commencement of peace negotiations. The attacks – which killed a woman, 28, and left several civilians wounded, including a four-year-old child – are the latest indication that Vladimir Putin is less interested in peace than his public announcements would indicate.
Of 273 drones targeted at Ukraine, 88 were shot down and 128 were lost en route, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, with 57 believed to have hit their targets. Separately, reports suggest at least 15 Russian conscripts have been killed in Friday’s devastating Ukrainian strike on a major ammunition store linked to Russia’s 126th Coastal Defence Brigade of its Black Sea Fleet in Perevalnoye, Crimea. Multiple secondary explosions were reported amid a giant smoke cloud as spectacular videos showed missiles and shells exploding uncontrolled after the strike.
The strikes came came less than a day after a drone attack on a civilian bus left nine dead and seven injured in attack that Ukrainian officials called a “war crime”.
Commenting on the drone strikes, the head of the Kyiv regional administration, Mykola Kalashnyk said: “Unfortunately, as a result of an enemy attack in the Obukhovsky district, a woman died from her injuries.
“Three were wounded – a 61-year-old man, a 59-year-old woman and a four-year-old child,” in the strike on a residential area.
The record drone strike on Ukraine also came hours after US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he was due to hold a phone call with the Russian despot on Monday.
The US has made peace in the conflict a central part of their foreign policy since the election of Donald Trump, but negotiations on Friday between delegates of the two countries failed to lead to a breakthrough.
The wave of Putin drone strikes came after Trump announced: “I will be speaking, by telephone, to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday at 10:00am.
“The subjects of the call will be – stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade.”
Mr Trump said he would then speak to Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders.
He added: “Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should never have happened, will end.”
The attacks come following an apocalyptic nuclear World War Three warning from Putin mouthpiece Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, who hit out at critics of Moscow’s tactics at peace talks in Istanbul, leading to Western threats of new sanctions.
Putin’s deputy said: “All enemies of Russia that issue negotiating ultimatums should remember a simple thing – peace negotiations alone do not always lead to the end of hostilities.
“Unsuccessful negotiations can lead to the onset of a more terrible stage of the war with new weapons and participants.”