Ukraine on Sunday claimed it launched a “large-scale” strike targeting Russian bombers in a bold escalation ahead of cease-fire talks set for Monday in Istanbul.
Kyiv said the long-range attack damaged aircraft worth an estimated $2 billion at air bases thousands of kilometers away, just hours after announcing that a deadly Russian strike had killed at least 12 Ukrainian soldiers at a training site, prompting the resignation of its ground forces commander.
Meanwhile, Russian officials reported that two bridges in border regions collapsed due to explosions, which they are treating as “acts of terrorism,” though they did not immediately assign blame.
The developments followed renewed Russian ground advances in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region and heavy aerial bombardments by both sides.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine’s delegation to the Istanbul talks will be led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Türkiye is hosting the meeting, which was spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s push for a quick deal to end the three-year war.
Zelenskyy, who previously voiced skepticism about the seriousness of the Russian side in proposing Monday’s meeting, said he had defined the Ukrainian delegation’s position going into it.
Priorities included “a complete and unconditional cease-fire” and the return of prisoners and abducted children, he said on social media.
Russia has said it has formulated its own peace terms but refused to divulge them in advance. Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out a Turkish proposal for the meeting to be held at the leaders’ level.
Russian news agencies said the Russian delegation was headed to Istanbul on Sunday for the talks.
Drone attacks inside Russia
The intensified strikes by both sides came as Kyiv and Moscow sought to show they were negotiating from a position of strength.
A source with Ukraine’s SBU security service said the coordinated attacks inside Russia were “aimed at destroying enemy bombers far from the front.”
The source said Russian air bases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya near the Arctic and close to Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow, had been targeted.
More than 40 aircraft had been hit at the Belaya base, and a fire broke out there, the source said, showing a video in which several aircraft could be seen in flames and black smoke rising.
But the governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya air base, reported a “drone attack” on a village adjacent to the facility.
“It’s the first attack of this sort in Siberia,” Gov. Igor Kobzev said, calling on the population not to panic. He posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone flying in the sky and a large cloud of gray smoke.
The governor of the Murmansk region, where the Olenya base is located, Andrey Chibis, also said “enemy drones” were flying overhead and that anti-aircraft defenses were operating.
Russia has been reporting Ukrainian drone attacks on an almost daily basis, usually claiming they were intercepted. But it is rare for such strikes to be reported so deep inside Russian territory.
At the same time, Russia has been carrying out constant attacks on Ukraine.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it was hit by 472 Russian drones and seven missiles overnight – a record since the beginning of the invasion.
In a rare admission of its military losses, the Ukrainian army said Russia’s “missile strike on the location of one of the training units” had killed a dozen soldiers, most of whom had been in shelters during the attack.
“As of 12:50 p.m. (9:50 a.m. GMT), 12 people are known to have been killed and more than 60 wounded,” it said.
The attack led Ukrainian ground forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty to announce his resignation, saying he felt “responsibility” for the soldiers’ deaths.
Blasts collapse bridges
Separately on Sunday, the Russian army said it had captured another village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, where Kyiv fears Moscow could mount a fresh ground assault.
Russia claims to have captured several settlements in the region in recent weeks and has amassed more than 50,000 soldiers on the other side of the border, according to Zelenskyy.
Authorities in the region have evacuated more than 200 villages amid intensified shelling.
Back in Russia, officials said a blast brought down a road bridge in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine on Saturday, derailing a passenger train heading to Moscow and killing seven people.
A separate rail bridge in the neighboring Kursk region was blown up hours later in the early hours of Sunday, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver.
Authorities did not say who was behind the explosions, but investigators said a criminal inquiry was underway.
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