Russia mounted its most extensive aerial assault of the war overnight 28–29 June, firing 537 projectiles—including 477 Shahed-type drones and 60 missiles—at cities across Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Kyiv said its air-defence network shot down 249 of the incoming weapons and likely jammed another 226. Explosions were reported from the western region of Lviv to the southern port of Mykolaiv, well beyond the front lines.
Local authorities said the barrage left at least six civilians dead and 26 injured, damaged energy facilities and residential buildings, and sparked fires in several oblasts. The Air Force confirmed that F-16 pilot Lt. Col. Maksym Ustymenko, 31, was killed after downing seven targets when his jet was hit by debris. Poland and other NATO members scrambled fighter aircraft as the attack unfolded near their borders, Polish officials said separately.
Ukraine has stepped up its own long-range strikes. Military intelligence released footage of kamikaze drones disabling multiple Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile components—including Grave Stone and Big Bird radars—in occupied Crimea on 26 June. On 30 June, Ukrainian forces launched what open-source analysts described as their largest cruise-missile raid in months, with Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles reported over Crimea, Rostov and Donetsk.
Moscow, for its part, says it is repelling near-daily Ukrainian drone incursions. The Russian Ministry of Defense has reported shooting down between 15 and 50 drones on several consecutive nights, including 50 on 26 June and 39 on 27 June, over regions ranging from Bryansk to Tatarstan. The competing claims underscore an intensifying war of attrition in the skies as both sides seek to erode the other’s air-defence networks.
