Russia and Ukraine traded heavy attacks overnight Tuesday into Wednesday as NATO leaders met in Ankara during the alliance’s annual summit.
In Ukraine, at least seven people were reported killed by Russian attacks across the country, including a mother and a daughter in the southern Mykolaiv Oblast, according to local officials. Heavy attacks also targeted the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, where at least one person was killed.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russian forces fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles, into Ukraine, and that Ukrainian forces shot down or jammed 139 drones. It added that the five ballistic missiles and 20 drones struck targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defense forces shot down 415 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea. Russian officials said that drones struck and damaged two tankers in the Taganrog Bay, the northeastern part of the Sea of Azov, that were bound for the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don.
At least one civilian was killed by the Ukrainian drone barrage during an attack on Russia’s Saratov Oblast, according to the region’s governor. Russian officials also reported that a Ukrainian drone hit a passenger bus but said no one was injured as the passengers and drivers managed to evacuate.
Ukraine’s drone attacks are known to be supported by US and NATO intelligence, meaning they always risk an escalation between Russia and NATO. The Ukrainian drone barrage came ahead of a meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ankara.
