- Ukraine attacks Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers.
- Seven killed, 69 wounded in Bryan, says Russia.
- Russia launches the biggest drone attack of the war.
On the threshold of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply shook in the war with one of the biggest drone fighting in their conflict, a Russian highway bridge that was blown up over a passenger train and an ambitious attack on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia.
After days of uncertainty as to whether Ukraine would even participate, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials in the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.
The first round of the negotiations more than a week ago gave the greatest prisoner exchange of the war – but no sense of any consensus on how to stop the fighting.
In the midst of peace conversations, however, there was a lot of war.
At least seven people were killed and 69 wounded when a motorway bridge in Russia’s Bryan region, neighboring Ukraine, was blown over a passenger train on their way to Moscow with 388 people on board. No one has yet assumed responsibility.
Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers on a military base deep in Siberia on Sunday, said a Ukrainian intelligence officer, the first such attack so far from the front lines more than 4,300 km (2,670 miles) away.
The official said the operation involved hiding explosive-charged drones inside the roofs of wooden sheds and loading them on trucks driven to the perimeter of the air bases.
A total of 41 Russian war plans were hit, the official said.
Russia recognizes air base attacks, says Brande exposed
Ukraine did not tell the Trump administration about the attack in advance, said Axios reporter Barak Ravid at X, referring to a named Ukrainian official.
Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged on the Telegram Messaging app that Ukraine had launched drone strikes against Russian military airfields in five regions on Sunday.
It said the attacks rejected the attacks in all except two regions – Murmansk in Father North and Irkutsk in Siberia – where “the launch of FPV drones from an area near airfields resulted in several aircraft catching fire”.
Fires were extinguished without damage. Some people involved in the attacks were detained, the ministry said.
Russia launched 472 drones on Ukraine overnight, said Ukraine’s Air Force, the highest nightly total of the war so far. Russia had also launched seven missiles, the air defense said.
Russia said it had advanced deeper into the Sumy region Ukraine, and Open Source-Pro-Ukrainian maps showed that Russia took 450 square miles of Ukrainian soil in May, its fastest monthly progress in at least six months.
US President Donald Trump has demanded that Russia and Ukraine create peace, and he has threatened to go away if they don’t – potentially pushing responsibility for supporting Ukraine on the shoulders of European powers – which have far less cash and much less weapons stocks than the United States.
According to Trump broadcasting Keith Kellogg, the two sides of Turkey would present their respective documents that outline their ideas for peace conditions, though it was clear that Moscow after three years of intense war remains far apart.
Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of battle in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. The United States said that over 1.2 million people were killed and wounded in the war since 2022.
Trump has called Putin “crazy” and calculated Zelenskiy in public in the Oval Office, but the US president has also said he thinks peace is achievable and that if Putin delays, he could impose harsh sanctions on Russia.
Last June, Putin explained his opening conditions for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine has to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all his troops from all over the territory in four Ukrainian regions claiming and mostly controlled by Russia.
Ukrainian dealers in Istanbul would present to the Russian site a proposed roadmap to reach a lasting peace settlement, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.
According to the document, there would be no restrictions on Ukraine’s military force after a peace agreement has been concluded, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow’s forces and replacement for Ukraine.
The document also stated that the current location of the front line would be the starting point for territory negotiations.
Russia is currently checking slightly below one fifth of Ukraine or approx. 113,100 square kilometers, about the same size as the US state of Ohio.
