Ukraine strikes grounded Russian bombers in major drone assault

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said on Sunday it destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars in a “large-scale” drone assault on enemy soil as it geared up for talks with Moscow counterparts to explore prospects for a ceasefire.

In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres away, with unverified video footage showing aicraft engulfed in flames and black smoke.

A source in the Ukrainian security services said the drones were concealed in the ceilings of shipping containers which were opened up to release them for the assault. The long-planned operation came at a delicate moment three years into Russia´s invasion. Ukraine´s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was sending a delegation to Istanbul led by his Defence Minister Rustem Umerov for talks on Monday with Russian officials.

Turkiye is hosting the meeting, which was spurred by US President Donald Trump´s push for a quick deal to end the three-year war. Zelensky, who previously voiced scepticism about whether Russia was serious in proposing Monday´s meeting, said he had defined the Ukrainian delegation´s position going into it.

Priorities included “a complete and unconditional ceasefire” and the return of prisoners and abducted children, he said on social media. Russia has rejected previous ceasefire demands. It said it has formulated its own peace terms but refused to divulge them in advance. Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out a Turkish proposal for the countries´ leaders to attend the meeting.

Russian news agencies said the Russian delegation was headed to Istanbul on Sunday for the talks. A source in Ukraine´s SBU security service said the coordinated attacks inside Russia were “aimed at destroying enemy bombers far from the front”.

Rybar, an account on the Telegram message platform that is close to the Russian military, called it a “very heavy blow” for Moscow and pointed to what it called “serious errors” by Russian intelligence.

The SBU source said strikes targeted Russian airbases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya, in the Arctic near Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow.

More than 40 aircraft had been hit at the Belaya base and a fire had broken out there, the source said, showing a video in which several aircraft could be seen in flames and black smoke rising. AFP was not able to independently verify the claims or the video images.

The SBU claimed in a social media post to have hit Russian military planes worth a combined $7 billion in a “special operation”. Russia´s defence ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft “caught fire”, adding that there were no casualties and that several “participants” had been arrested.