Russia launches major strike on Ukraine’s oil and industrial sites

KYIV: Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight strike on Ukrainian industrial infrastructure using long-range precision weapons and drones, Russia Today reported. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the operation on Sunday, calling it a “massive strike” targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial and oil-processing facilities.

According to the ministry, the assault involved high-precision long-range air-, sea-, and land-based weapons, including the aeroballistic hypersonic Kinzhal missile system and unmanned aerial vehicles. While no detailed breakdown of the targets was provided, the ministry declared that the “strike goals were achieved. All designated targets were hit,” Russia Today stated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack, claiming that Russia deployed 477 explosives-laden drones and 60 missiles of various types. In a post on Telegram, he called on Kyiv’s Western allies to increase air defense support. Zelensky also revealed that a Western-supplied F-16 fighter jet was lost while intercepting the strike, resulting in the pilot’s death.

Massive Russian Strike on Ukraine: Over 500 Targets, Dozens of Missiles — and the Death of an F-16 Pilot

The night of June 29 became one of the heaviest in recent months. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia attacked with 477 drones and 60 missiles, including 41 Kh-101… pic.twitter.com/uP7LL7L7a7

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 29, 2025

Meanwhile, Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuglaya accused the military leadership of “murdering” fighter pilots, citing the absence of effective anti-drone protocols. The Ukrainian military reported that more than 20 rockets and 40 UAVs breached the country’s air defenses during the assault, Russia Today noted.

Local officials in Drohobych, Lviv Region, said a fire broke out at an industrial infrastructure facility following the airstrike. Though no casualties were reported, critical infrastructure was damaged.

In Poltava Region, an industrial site in Kremenchuk was also reportedly hit. Russia Today reported that both locations are home to oil-processing plants, believed to be the likely targets of the attack. Social media footage circulating online appeared to show explosions and aftermath scenes from several affected Ukrainian regions.

Meanwhile, CNN reported that the much-anticipated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine collapsed as Moscow intensified its offensive, attempting to seize more territory in Ukraine’s eastern regions on Sunday. “I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people,” CNN quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying. “In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”

Even so, the Ukrainians have launched counterattacks in some areas and are rapidly developing a domestic weapons industry. And Russia’s wartime economy is facing stronger headwinds.

Russian troops are trying to advance in multiple areas of the 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) frontline. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said this week there are now 111,000 Russian troops in one part of the frontline alone – near the flashpoint city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, where there are at least 50 clashes every day. That compares to about 70,000 Russian troops in the area last December, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.

Oleksandr Stanislavovych Syrskyi, a Ukrainian military officer claimed that the Russian infiltration of the northern region of Sumy had been halted. The Institute for the Study of War – a Washington-based think-tank, says Ukrainian forces have regained some territory in Sumy and the pace of Russian advances there has slowed.

“We can say that the wave of attempts at a ‘summer offensive’ launched by the enemy from Russian territory is fizzling out,” Syrskyi claimed.

DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source analyst, asserted that Ukrainian “defenses continue to collapse rapidly, and the enemy is making significant advances … with constant assaults” in that area.

The Kremlin has long insisted its campaign will continue until it holds all of the eastern Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as per CNN.

At the current rate of progress that would take many years. But with the Trump administration apparently less committed to driving ceasefire negotiations, the conflict seems likely to drag on through the end of the year and into 2026. The three-dimensional battlefield is now an unlikely combination of ingenious drone-led special operations and very basic infantry assaults.

At one end of the spectrum, Ukraine’s audacious attacks at the beginning of June on Russian strategic bombers used drones operated from trucks deep inside Russian territory — a mission that took out about a dozen aircraft used to launch missiles against Ukraine. (ANI)