Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin unleashes mass drone attack on Kyiv after claiming he is open to peace

The UK and Germany are chairing a meeting this morning to discuss president Donald Trump’s plans for Nato allies to provide Ukraine with weapons, a week after the US president said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days.

The virtual meeting will be lead by defence secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius.

Mr Healey said US defence secretary Pete Hegseth and Nato leader Mark Rutte, as well as Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.

The talks come after Russia pounded Ukraine with some 300 drone strikes Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.

The skies above Ukraine now swarm with kamikaze, surveillance, bomber, and anti-drone UAVs.

These numerous, cheap, and deadly machines are considered by Kyiv to be a primary reason Ukraine can withstand advancing Russian forces this year and beyond, a view shared by a dozen Ukrainian commanders, officials, and arms manufacturers.

So pervasive are these remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles that Ukrainian soldiers refer to the roughly 10-kilometre corridor on either side of the contact line as the “kill zone,” where targets are swiftly spotted and neutralised by both sides.

In his latest post on social media, Volodymyr Zelensky shared an update from the Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.

He said Ukraine continues to target “Russian sabotage groups” in the Pokrovsk region.

He wrote: “Russia’s tactics remain the same — they are attempting to seize new positions using small groups. Ukrainian units are employing all necessary means to detect and neutralize such enemy activity.”

He also thanked forces in the border areas of the Sumy region and the effectiveness of Ukraine’s long-range strikes.

A tsunami warning has been lifted for Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula after two earthquakes struck in the sea nearby on Sunday.

The earthquake struck off the east coast of Kamchatka at a depth of 10 km, shortly after a previous quake, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) data.

Waves of up to 60 cm had been expected to reach several parts of the region, including the capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

But Russia’s state-run TASS news agency later reported that a tsunami warning for Kamchatka was also lifted, citing local emergency services.

Russia launched a fresh barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine in an overnight attack on Monday, killing at least one person and causing multiple fires in the capital Kyiv, city officials said.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescuers and medics were working on sites across four districts of the capital. A subway station in central Kyiv, commercial property, shops, houses and a kindergarten were damaged, city officials said.

In another tense and sleepless night for Kyiv residents, many rushed to take shelter in underground stations. Explosions were heard across the city as air defence units engaged in repelling the attack.

Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, reported multiple explosions in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, but gave no immediate details on the damage.

At least 140 flights have been cancelled and Moscow’s major airports were closed after Ukraine launched a drone strike on Russia.

The four major airports serving the capital were disrupted and more than 130 flights also had to be redirected, according to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators.

More than 230 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia since Saturday morning, including 27 over the capital, according to the Russian defence ministry.

According to Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia, four major airports serving Moscow – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovskiy – were affected, resulting in 134 flights being redirected.

By 10pm Moscow time, only two airports remained closed to air traffic – Vnukovo in the Moscow region and Grabtsevo in the Kaluga region.

Russia is open to peace with Ukraine but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov yesterday, days after US president Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.

“President (Vladimir) Putin has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,” Mr Peskov told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.

“The main thing for us is to achieve our goals. Our goals are clear,” he added.

The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022, but never fully captured.

It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join Nato and accept strict limits on its armed forces — demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.