Overview

• Ukraine’s air force reported that the 537-weapon assault included 477 drones and decoys alongside 60 missiles, marking the heaviest strike since February 2022.
• Defences intercepted 249 incoming threats and electronically jammed another 226, allowing Ukraine to repel most of the attack.
• Lt. Col. Maksym Ustymenko, a Western-supplied F-16 pilot credited with downing seven targets, died after steering his damaged jet away from populated areas.
• The barrage struck Cherkasy, Lviv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions, causing civilian deaths, injuries and damage to homes and critical infrastructure.
• In his appeal for support, Zelenskyy sought additional US and European air-defence systems even as Moscow said it remained open to fresh peace talks in Istanbul.