Russia sends a record 355 drones at Ukraine overnight. Russia has recruited 1.3 million soldiers since the invasion, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence says. Trump says Putin “has gone absolutely crazy,” his war ambitions to “lead to the downfall of Russia”.
Russia sends record 355 drones at Ukraine overnight
Russia attacked Ukraine for a third night in a row on Monday, sending missiles and a record number of drones. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched against Ukraine nine Kh-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers as well as 355 attack and decoy drones.
All missiles and 288 drones were shot down or neutralized in flight in the country’s east, north, south, west and center. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 233 drones, while other 55 disappeared off radar after likely being disabled by electronic warfare systems, the Air Force said.
Russian missiles and drones hit five sites, and drone debris fell in 10 places, the message reads.
The previous night, Russia fired 298 drones and 69 missiles of various types at Ukraine in the largest combined aerial assault of the war, killing at least 12 people across the country, including three children. Ukraine’s air defenses then shot down 45 missiles and destroyed or neutralized in flight 266 drones.
Reacting to Russia’s overnight attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a post to X: “Only a sense of total impunity can allow Russia to carry out such strikes and continue increasing their scale. There is no real military logic to this, but there is significant political meaning. In doing this, Putin shows just how much he despises the world — the world that spends more effort on ‘dialogue’ with him than on real pressure.”
He added that Russia’s Monday attack targeted various parts of the country, “from the Chernihiv region to the Khmelnytskyi region and from the Kharkiv region to the Odesa region.”
“Like any criminal, Russia can only be constrained by force. Only through strength — the strength of the United States, of Europe, of all nations that value life — can these attacks be stopped and real peace achieved. The increase in Russian strikes should be met with increased sanctions,” Zelenskyi said.
Russia has recruited 1.3 million soldiers since invasion, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence says
Russia has recruited 1.3 million soldiers since its invasion of Ukraine. Its losses throughout the war near one million killed or wounded, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Lieutenant General Oleh Ivashchenko told Ukrinform agency in an interview released on Monday.
“Russia has a population of around 145 million. Its mobilization potential is 25 million people that either have a military education background or relevant civilian specialties. That’s the workforce that moves the economy. Only 3 million of them have actually been trained. [Russia] has already mobilized 1.3 million people since the full-scale invasion. It has lost another million killed or wounded,” Ivashchenko said.
Since the full-scale invasion, 981,850 Russian troops have been killed or wounded, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Monday. Russia lost 1,000 soldiers in the past day alone.
Trump says Putin “has gone absolutely crazy,” his war ambitions to “lead to the downfall of Russia”
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has gone absolutely CRAZY,” after Russia launched its largest aerial attack since the invasion. Putin’s war ambitions could “lead to the downfall of Russia,” Trump added.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump also turned his criticism toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, posting that the Ukrainian leader “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does,” Trump wrote. “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
Trump also restated that the war belongs to Zelenskyi, Putin and his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden.
“This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred,” Trump wrote in his post.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump raised the possibility of imposing more sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing attacks.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump said. “I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”
Russia launched overnight attacks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Ukraine. The bombardment from Saturday into Sunday saw more drones launched at Ukraine than in any other single assault in three years. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had sent 367 missiles and drones toward Ukraine, including nine Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, a total of 55 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS strategic bombers and Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles, a Kh-22 cruise missiles launched from a bomber, four Kh-59/Kh-69 air-launched missiles and 298 Shahed attack drones and decoy drones.
A combined Russian attack on Sunday killed 12 people across Ukraine, including three children. According to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, at least 13 areas were affected by the airstrikes, including the regions of Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, and the city of Kyiv.
