Overview

• Russia unleashed its largest wave of air attacks since the war began, launching some 477 drones and 60 missiles that have stretched Ukrainian air defences and led to the death of another F-16 pilot after he downed seven targets.
• Kyiv answered with long-range strikes into Russia, claiming to have shot down a Su-57 fighter jet near Akhtubinsk and to have hit the Kupol arms plant in Ischewsk, where local authorities reported deaths and injuries.
• Facing shortages of costly interceptors, Ukraine is fielding homemade anti-drone systems and mobilizing civilian volunteers to reinforce defences against massed Shahed-type drone barrages.
• Germany’s foreign minister pledged deeper arms cooperation with Ukraine, promising additional Iris-T air defence batteries and new partnerships between German and Ukrainian defence firms.
• Peace efforts remain stalled as UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls for an immediate ceasefire, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blames Kyiv and Washington for the impasse, and Russian-installed authorities assert an unverified full capture of Luhansk.