Russia fires record 479 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv says

Russia has launched 479 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the three-year war, the Ukrainian air force said on Monday.

As well as drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas of Ukraine.

Ukraine's air force said its air defense destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight on Sunday night, and claimed that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target.  

Air raid alerts in Kyiv and most Ukrainian regions lasted five hours until around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to military data.

The scale of the attack was not immediately known.

Moscow has dramatically increased the pace of its attacks on Ukraine following Kyiv's strikes on strategic bombers at airbases inside Russia on June 1. Moscow also blamed Kyiv for bridge explosions on the same day that killed seven and injured scores.

Moscow and Kyiv have returned to negotiations for the first time in more than three years, but outside an agreement on the exchange of war prisoners, there has been no tangible progress.

Russia has been advancing further on the ground along the front-line in eastern Ukraine, claiming on Tuesday to have taken more territory there.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Sunday that in some of those areas "the situation is very difficult." He provided no details.

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to strike deep inside Russia with long-range drones.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said on Monday that Russian air defense units destroyed a total of 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Nearly half of the drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the ministry said. Three drones were downed over the Moscow region and two over the Leningrad region, of which St. Petersburg is the regional capital.

Russia's civil aviation authority temporarily halted flights at all four major airports serving Moscow and St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, as well as at airports in nine other cities, to ensure safety.

Flights in Moscow and some other cities were restored by Tuesday morning, but restrictions were still in place in St. Petersburg at 0430 GMT.

(With input from Reuters and AFP)