Russia carried out another wave of overnight drone strikes on Ukraine including the capital Kyiv as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to depart for a state visit to the U.K. on Tuesday, with American-led peace efforts still at a standstill.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 113 drones between Monday night and Tuesday morning. Of those, 89 were intercepted or neutralized, while 22 struck six locations. Falling debris also hit two areas.
Air defenses were active over Kyiv, where drone strikes ignited fires at a shopping center and an industrial facility, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported. “During the fire extinguishing, the aggressor struck the site again, damaging two fire-rescue vehicles,” the service added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian attacks were reported in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions. “Now is the time to implement a joint defense of our European sky with a multilayer air defense system,” he wrote on Telegram.
Regional officials reported casualties, with at least one person killed by shelling in Donetsk and two more in Zaporizhzhia. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces downed 87 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The strikes come as Trump is expected to discuss the ongoing war with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Britain is a leading member of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of allied nations pledging expanded military support for Ukraine and the possibility of deploying peacekeeping troops after the conflict.
Russian attacks on Ukraine
Trump has ruled out sending U.S. ground forces but hinted that American air power could support a future peacekeeping mission. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea of any foreign troops on Ukrainian soil.
The visit comes one month after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where he proposed direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy a meeting that has yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its long-range attacks. Last week, around two dozen drones crossed into Poland in the largest-ever Russian incursion into NATO airspace. Polish and Dutch fighters shot down at least three. NATO responded with “Operation Eastern Sentry,” strengthening air defenses along its eastern flank.
Trump unsettled some allies when he suggested the drone incursion into Poland “could have been a mistake.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pushed back, writing: “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
Ukraine continues to urge stronger sanctions and tariffs on Moscow. Ahead of Trump’s European visit and next week’s U.N. General Assembly, Zelenskyy called for decisive action. “If the world does not deliver a truly tangible response Putin will continue to see it as permission to wage war,” he warned.
