Russia Fires 60 Missiles, 477 Drones and Decoys

Ukraine calls it the biggest aerial attack of the invasion
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 29, 2025 3:50 PM CDT
Russia Fires 60 Missiles, 477 Drones and Decoys
Visitors look at a damaged Iranian-made drone, Shahed, during the International Conference on Expanding Sanctions Against Russia in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday.   (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war. Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine's air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed, the AP reports. The onslaught was "the most massive airstrike" on the country since the beginning of Russia's invasion in February 2022, taking into account both drones and various types of missiles, an air force spokesman said. The attack targeted several regions, including western Ukraine, far from the front line.

  • Casualties: Three people were killed in each of the drone strikes in the Kherson, Kharkiv and the Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the three governors. Another person was killed by an airstrike in Kostyantynivka, local officials said. In addition to aerial attacks, a man died when Russian troops shelled the city of Kherson, and the body of a 70-year-old woman was found under the rubble of a nine-story building hit by Russian shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region.
  • Warplane crash: Ukraine's air force said one of its F-16 fighter jets supplied by its Western partners crashed after sustaining damage while shooting down air targets. The pilot was killed.

  • Russia claims advance: Russia said Sunday that it had taken control of the village of Novoukrainka in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Its forces have been slowly grinding forward at points on the roughly 620-mile front line, though the incremental gains have been costly in troop casualties and damaged armor, per the AP.
  • Treaty decision: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to withdraw Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention banning antipersonnel land mines, a Ukrainian lawmaker said Sunday. The move follows similar steps by the Baltic states and Poland. The 1997 treaty prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel land mines in an effort to protect civilians from explosives that can maim or kill long after fighting ends. The lawmaker noted that Russia is not a party to the convention and said its forces are "massively using mines against our military and civilians."

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