Ukraine loses F-16 fighter amid massed Russian drone, missile attack –
Two hours later, the command said in a statement that the forces were stood down “due to the reduced level of threat of Russian air strikes.”
Ukraine’s air force said 436 drones and 38 missiles were downed by air defenses, with the help of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets whose pilots shot down “dozens” of attack drones. “The work of Ukrainian fighters is extremely dangerous,” it said.
Among the pilots was Lt. Col. Maksym Ustimenko, the air force said, who shot down seven targets before his F-16 was damaged during an attempt to down an eighth.
“His plane was damaged and began to lose altitude,” the air force said. Ustimenko, it added, guided the plane away from residential areas on the ground but “did not have time to eject.”
Ukraine loses F-16 fighter amid massed Russian drone, missile attack
Ukraine said Russia used 537 drones and missiles in overnight strikes.
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LONDON — Russia launched 537 drones and missiles into Ukraine overnight into Sunday morning, according to Ukraine’s air force, with a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet and its pilot also reported lost during efforts to repel the attack.
Ukraine’s air force wrote on Telegram that Russia launched 477 drones and 60 missiles at targets across the country overnight. Saturday night’s attack was one of — if not the — largest of Moscow’s war to date.
In Poland — which borders Ukraine to its west — the Armed Forces Operational Command said in a post to X that the Russian strikes prompted Polish and allied aircraft to be scrambled.
The command said it “activated all available forces and resources at his disposal, the duty fighter pairs have been scrambled and the ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness. The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the areas bordering the threatened areas.”
This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on June 29, 2…Show more
Handout/Ukrainian State Emergency Servic
Two hours later, the command said in a statement that the forces were stood down “due to the reduced level of threat of Russian air strikes.”
Ukraine’s air force said 436 drones and 38 missiles were downed by air defenses, with the help of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets whose pilots shot down “dozens” of attack drones. “The work of Ukrainian fighters is extremely dangerous,” it said.
Among the pilots was Lt. Col. Maksym Ustimenko, the air force said, who shot down seven targets before his F-16 was damaged during an attempt to down an eighth.
“His plane was damaged and began to lose altitude,” the air force said. Ustimenko, it added, guided the plane away from residential areas on the ground but “did not have time to eject.”
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People take shelter inside a metro station during a Russian military strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 29, 2025.
Alina Smutko/Reuters
Russian drone or missile impacts were recorded in six locations, the air force said, with falling debris reported in eight locations.
Russia’s Defense Ministry characterized the barrage as a “massive strike with high-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missile system, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, against military-industrial complex facilities and oil refineries in Ukraine.”
“The strike’s objective was achieved, all designated targets were hit,” the ministry said in a post to Telegram.
The ministry also said its forces shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a residential building in the town of Smila, close to the central city of Cherkasy, was among those hit by drones, with one child injured.
