Kyiv, 18 May

Russia overnight into Sunday launched one of its most intense drone attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia fired a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine's air force said. Of those, 88 were intercepted and a further 128 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The attacks targeted the country's Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.

According to data from Ukraine's air force, this would be the largest drone attack Russiahas launched against Ukraine since the start of the war, but Ukrainian officials have not confirmed this.

The number of drones fired exceeds Russia's previous largest known single drone attack of the war, when Russia pounded Ukraine with 267 drones on the eve of the war's third anniversary.

Kyiv regional Gov Mykola Kalashnyk said a 28-year-old woman was killed in a drone attack on the region and three other people, including a 4-year-old child, were wounded.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight, and a further 14 on Sunday morning.

The attacks came after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years on Friday failed to yield a ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to meet face-to-face in Turkiye after he himself proposed direct negotiations — although not at the presidential level — as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the US.

US President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Putin, followed by Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine.