One killed in biggest Russian drone attack on Ukraine ahead of Putin–Trump phone call

One person was killed in an overnight Russian drone attack on Kyiv, which could be the largest of the war so far, head of the Kyiv regional military administration Mykola Kalashnyk wrote on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday.

Three people were injured in the attack, including a four-year-old child, Kalashnyk added.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukraine shot down 88 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched at Ukraine overnight, out of a total of 273 drones aimed at the country, 128 of which drones disappeared from radars, likely used as decoys.

This could be the highest number of drones launched in a single night, Ukrainian news outlet Strana.ua pointed out, adding that the previous record was set on 23 February, one day before the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion, when Moscow launched 267 drones at Ukraine.

The attack comes a day before a planned phone call between Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, followed by a call between Trump, Zelensky and various NATO members, which Trump announced on Saturday, adding: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to state news agency TASS on Saturday that preparations were underway for a Putin–Trump call on Monday, but gave no further details.

Moscow and Kyiv sat down for their first direct negotiations in three years on Friday, during which the two sides agreed to the largest prisoner exchange of the war to date but failed to reach a breakthrough on a ceasefire previously proposed by Kyiv and its Western allies, as Russia continued to launch attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, when nine people were killed in a drone strike on a civilian minibus in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.