Massive Drone Raid Targets Ukraine Ahead of Planned Talks with Russia

Russia launched a large-scale overnight air assault on Ukraine, targeting the capital Kyiv and multiple other cities with a combination of ballistic missiles and attack drones, Ukrainian officials said Sunday, June 1.

Kyiv Post correspondents based in the capital heard explosions in Kyiv shortly after air raid sirens went off around 1:43 a.m. local time. Ukraine’s Air Force reported that high-speed targets, including missiles, were approaching from the Sumy region in the northeast, heading toward the capital.

Ukrainian military officials warned that ballistic missiles and drones were being used in the attack. Authorities urged people to stay in shelters until the all-clear signal was given.

Air raid alerts were active across much of Ukraine through the night, including in the regions of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv. Explosions were also reported in those areas.

At around 3:00 a.m., another wave of drone attacks targeted Kyiv, with more explosions heard in the city. Around 6:20 a.m., Ukraine’s Air Force said additional drones were approaching from the east. More strikes followed minutes later.

By 8:36 a.m., Kyiv’s mayor reported that air defense systems were actively engaging drones over the capital. Kyiv Post correspondent, residing in the Obolon district, said she saw and heard air defense fire.

“Enemy drones are still entering the city,” the mayor said.

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In Zaporizhzhia, the regional military administration said the attack began around 9:40 p.m. on May 31. Seven drones targeted the city, causing explosions and fires. Regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported that a critical infrastructure site was hit. An administrative building was damaged, and a fire broke out on the facility’s grounds.

There were also reports of a drone raid on the Zhytomyr region overnight, though Ukrainian officials have not yet confirmed the number of incoming targets there.

As of Sunday morning, Ukrainian air defenses were still responding to threats in several regions. No information on casualties was immediately available.

The attack came just days before Monday’s planned peace talks in Istanbul unilaterally initiated by Moscow. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the talks on Wednesday evening and said Moscow would present a memorandum towards a ceasefire to Kyiv at the talks. Kyiv has not confirmed its attendance and said the memorandum should be presented after last weekend’s prisoner swap as agreed, adding that the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance.

Kyiv has presented its version of the document to Washington and Moscow, where unnamed Ukrainian officials reportedly told the New York Times that it centered on a full ceasefire monitored by international partners. 

Reuters, citing its Kremlin sources, said Moscow’s version contains maximalist demands such as a freeze on NATO expansion, removal of sanctions, and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality

Despite the lack of documents from Moscow before the talks, Washington’s Ukraine Envoy Keith Kellogg has urged Kyiv to attend Monday’s talks nonetheless.