Russia Launched Record Nearly 500 Drones In Overnight Attack On Ukraine

In overnight attacks Russia launched a record 479 drones across Ukraine, with airstrikes reported in 10 locations, damaging buildings but surprisingly there were no immediate reports of deaths or mass casualties, with one person reported injured.

Ukrainian forces subsequently claimed to have intercepted 460 of the drones and 19 of 20 missiles. Western supplied anti-air defenses are still hard and work and remain effective in Ukraine, apparently.

The mayor of Rivne called it the oblast’s largest attack on a single night since the war began. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in a late Sunday statement that in some of those areas “the situation is very difficult.”

Air raid sirens sounded for some ten hours in Kyiv oblast, local media reports, and further issued the following details:

According to the official statement, Russia launched 499 weapons, including 479 Shahed‑type attack drones and various decoy drones, four Kh‑47M2 “Kinzhal” air-launched ballistic missiles, 10 Kh‑101 cruise missiles, three Kh‑22 cruise missiles over the Black Sea, two Kh‑31P anti‑radar missiles, and one Kh‑35 cruise missile from occupied Crimea.

Ukraine had reportedly neutralized 479 of the incoming targets, with 292 were shot down, and 187 jammed or lost via electronic warfare.

On the other side, Ukraine also mounted a large-scale drone assault, again deep inside Russian territory, which resulted in direct hits and damage.

Ukraine forces said they struck a Russian electronics factory that produces drone components, causing a temporary shutdown.

The VNIIR plant, one of the nation’s largest producers of electronic components, is situated in southern Cheboksary, about 600 km east of Moscow and 1,000 km northeast of Ukraine’s border.

“This morning, Ukrainian attempts to use drones in Chuvashia were detected,” regional head Oleg Nikolayev stated on Telegram, saying also “There were no victims from the attack” and that the situation is “entirely under control”.

In all these latest factory strike, Kiev maintains it is hitting ‘military targets’ which are linked to the Russian army…

Russia, Cheboksary, a factory that produces electronics for their army. pic.twitter.com/d9zWfewcLP

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) June 9, 2025

Yet it looks as if Ukraine struck yet another valuable target deep inside Russia, with questions remaining over the effectiveness for Russia’s anti-air defense systems, which were designed to track and intercept larger inbound projectiles such as missiles.

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Below are more developing geopolitical headlines via Newsquawk:

• Russian forces captured Zoria in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and reached the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine, according to TASS and Interfax. However, it was later reported that Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Kovalev denied claims by the Russian Defence Ministry that its forces advanced into Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time since it launched its full-scale invasion.
• Head of the Russian delegation at talks with Ukraine in Istanbul said Russia handed over to Ukraine the first list of 640 POWs for exchange, according to TASS. Furthermore, the Russian Defence Ministry said Russia launched a large-scale humanitarian operation to repatriate more than 6,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian military personnel and exchange prisoners of war, while Ukrainian officials rejected Russian claims that Ukraine was delaying the exchange of soldiers’ bodies.
• Ukrainian drone attack sparked a short-lived fire at the Azot chemical plant in Russia’s Tula region, although there was no threat to air quality near the plant, according to the regional governor.
• US believes Russian retaliation for Ukraine’s drone attack is not over yet and it expects a multi-pronged strike.
• Poland scrambled aircraft to ensure airspace security after Russia launches strikes on Ukraine.

Another dramatic video out of Cheboksary:

Full video, Cheboksary movement pic.twitter.com/LfHtfuwq5L

— Malinda (@TreasChest) June 9, 2025