London – Russia launched 537 drones and missiles to Ukraine during the night until Sunday morning, according to the Ukraine Air Force, with an F-16 Ukrainian combat plane and its pilot also reported that it lost during the efforts to repel the attack.
The Ukraine Air Force wrote on Telegram that Russia launched 477 drones and 60 missiles throughout the country during the night. The attack on Saturday night was one of the, if not, the greatest of the Moscow war to date.
In Poland, which limits Ukraine to its west, the operational command of the Armed Forces told X that the Russian attacks caused the Poles and Allied airplanes to revolve.
The command said that “it activated all the forces and resources available at their disposal, the service combat pairs have been scrambled and the air defense and radar recognition systems have reached the highest state of preparation. The steps given aimed to guarantee safety in the areas that border the threatened areas.”
People take refuge inside a subway station during a Russian military strike in kyiv, Ukraine, on June 29, 2025.
Alina Smökko/Reuters
Two hours later, the command said in a statement that the forces were withdrawn “due to the reduced level of threat of Russian air attacks.”
The Ukraine Air Force said that 436 drones and 38 missiles were demolished by aerial defenses, with the help of F-16 combat aircraft made in the United States whose pilots knocked down “dozen” of attack drones. “The work of Ukrainian combatants is extremely dangerous,” he said.
Among the pilots was Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, said the Air Force, who knocked seven goals before his F-16 was damaged during an attempt to lower an eighth.
“His plane was damaged and began to lose altitude,” said the Air Force. Ustimenko, he added, guided the plane away from the residential areas on the ground but “did not have time to expel.”
The impacts of Russian drones or missiles in six locations were recorded, said the Air Force, with debris that falls in eight locations.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said its forces knocked down three Ukrainian drones during the night.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a residential building in the city of Smila, near the central city of Chekasy, was among those beaten by drones, with an injured child.
Zelenskyy also said he had ordered an investigation into the death of Ustimenko, adding that “Ukrainian aviation heroically defends the sky. Thanks to all those who defend Ukraine.”
“Moscow will not stop while being able to deliver mass attacks,” the president continued.
An Ukraine Air Force F-16 returns to low altitude after attacking Russian military positions in the direction of Kurakhove occupied on February 17, 2025, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner/Getty Images
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said, “he decided a long time that he would continue to fight despite the calls of peace. We need to end the war, we need pressure on the aggressor, we need protection.”
“Ukraine needs to strengthen his aerial defense,” he said. “These are American systems that we are ready to buy. We have the leadership, political will and support of the United States, Europe and all our partners.”
