Russian shelling and air attacks overnight killed five people and injured several others, including two children, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks come just hours before the two sides sit down for a second round of face-to-face peace talks in Istanbul. Follow the latest here.
Monday 2 June 2025 09:35, UK
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By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
The talk will be of peace today in Istanbul, but the build-up has been all about war.
Both sides have stepped up their attacks ahead of the next round of talks in a bid to assert their dominance and strengthen their hand at the negotiating table.
Ukraine with its audacious attack on Russia’s long-range bombers; Moscow with its largest drone attack of the war so far, launching 472 drones across the border on Saturday night.
Given that build-up, a breakthrough seems very unlikely.
The first round yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war so far, but that was all. That meeting last month was over after just two hours.
This time, the two sides are due to present their blueprints for peace, which may serve only to highlight how far apart they are.
According to Reuters news agency, Ukraine’s framework includes no restrictions on its military, no international recognition of Russia’s territorial claims in eastern Ukraine, and reparations for Kyiv.
Judging by the noises coming from Moscow in recent weeks, Russia’s is the diametric opposite: permanent neutrality for Ukraine, no foreign troops there and that the four eastern territories its forces currently occupy become Russian in their entirety.
The aim of the talks is to bridge that gap, but clearly that will be challenging – partly because of how wide it is, but also because of what’s happened in the past 24-48 hours.
As both sides prepare for their second round of peace talks – with a long way to go before any kind of compromise could be reached – fighting continues across Ukraine.
Scroll through the maps below to view different parts of the battlefield, including the situation in key regions such as Luhansk, Donetsk, Kursk and Belgorod.
The fallout from Ukraine’s audacious attack on airbases across Russia continues, with Moscow under pressure to respond.
At least 13 planes were destroyed and others damaged, according to a Ukrainian official (see our 8.13 post).
Our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said some in Russia are already saying it’s grounds for a nuclear attack on Ukraine.
That’s a topic being discussed both in social media and in some of the papers here, state-run newspapers, with some making the argument that Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows for such a response because this was an attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers,” he said.
Some hardline military bloggers, meanwhile, are pointing the finger of blame at Russia’s military command, he added, accusing the leadership of complacency.
“They are saying that they assumed that [air bases] would be safe just because they’re so far from Ukraine, and they’re also criticising them for storing the planes out in the open,” Bennett added.
“So, I think there will undoubtedly be a response and be repercussions both externally – for Ukraine – but also potentially repercussions internally [in Russia].”
By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor
That audacious Ukrainian drone attack on multiple airbases across Russia is a humiliating security breach for Vladimir Putin.
It will doubtless trigger a furious response, with pro-Kremlin bloggers describing the assault as “Russia’s Pearl Harbor”, referring to the Japanese attack on the US that prompted Washington to enter the Second World War.
The Ukrainian operation used small drones smuggled into Russia, hidden in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks, and an official said this morning at least 13 planes were destroyed (see the post below).
Moscow will have to retaliate, with speculation already appearing online about whether Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons.
“We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher,” one military blogger wrote.
To read on, click on the link below…
An official from Ukraine’s national security and defence council official has given an update from yesterday’s audacious attacks on Russian air bases.
Yesterday, Ukraine said they had hit planes deep in Russian territory during an operation planned over 18 months.
Andriy Kovalenko has just said at least 13 jets were destroyed, with other planes damaged.
Yesterday, Ukraine said more than 40 Russian planes were hit by their drones, which they said were smuggled into Russia in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks.
You may see footage from that attack in the clip below…
By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor
Amid concerns over Russia’s threat to the rest of Europe, the UK will vow to build up to 12 attack submarines.
The prime minister is expected to pledge to put the military on a war footing, as part of a major defence review.
But there won’t be any new spending promises.
The lack of extra cash means Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire for empty rhetoric, even before the blueprint for the future of the armed forces is released today.
Defence Secretary John Healey said he has “no doubt” the government will lift the defence budget to 3% of national income by 2034.
But this remains only an “ambition”, and Sky News understands the recommendations in the Strategic Defence Review will require investment to rise by at least that amount.
Defence insiders say, in reality, given the scale of what they see as the threat posed by hostile states such as Russia, funding should come even faster and be higher.
Read the full story in the link below…
A brief update to bring you from Istanbul now, where talks are scheduled between Russia and Ukraine.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said their delegation has arrived.
Ukraine had previously confirmed its delegation will be headed up by defence minister Rustem Umerov.
This will be the second round of direct peace talks between the two sides, but both are still far apart on how to end the war – see more in our 6.43 post.
Just to remind you, those talks are set to get under way at 11am (UK time).
Regional officials said overnight drone attacks from Ukraine sparked residential fires and disrupted traffic on a major road.
Air defence units hit 162 Ukrainian drones, Russia said, with 57 downed over the border region of Kursk.
According to the local governor, Alexander Khinshtein, falling debris caused fires at several homes and damaged private apartments.
In the southern Russian region of Voronezh, where Russian air units reportedly destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones, regional governor Alexander Gusev said debris cut through power lines.
These then fell on the M-4, a major motorway.
A small section of the road, which links the cities of Moscow, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, was closed, he added.
No injuries have been reported.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has shared these images from the northeastern region of Kharkiv and Nikopol, in the southeast, following Russian attacks overnight.
It reports six people were injured in Kharkiv, while an ambulance driver was among two civilians hurt in Nikopol.
In the latest overnight Russian attacks, Ukraine has said five people have been killed and several others injured.
Two children are among those hurt, according to regional officials.
The five were reported killed outside the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app, with nine people injured.
Another six people were hurt in an attack on Sumy, governor Oleh Sinehubov said, including a seven-year-old boy and another child.
Delegations from Ukraine and Russia are expected to meet in Istanbul later this morning – read more information on the talks in the post below – just hours after these attacks were reported.
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