Russia says its air defences destroyed or intercepted well over 100 Ukrainian drones far into the night over widely separated areas of Russia, including a swarm of drones repelled while headed for Moscow, officials said early today.
The raid forced the closure of two airports serving the Russian capital – Vnukovo and Zhukovsky. Ukraine's attack came after Russia launched the heaviest drone bombardment of the war so far, launching more than 900 over a three-day period that ended early Monday morning.
That attack saw US president Donald Trump brand Vladimir Putin "absolutely crazy", and the Kremlin responded by saying the US president was being "emotional".
Earlier, Russia said it had agreed a prisoner exchange with the US involving nine detainees from each side. Putin's foreign minister said the deal was discussed on the phone call between Trump and Putin last week, and he praised the US president as a man "who wants results".
Key Points
- Russian air defences down over 100 drones, including dozens over Moscow
- Putin's aide warns of Third World War after criticism from Trump
- Trump warns Putin is playing with fire
- Russia attacks Germany's Merz over remarks on long-range attacks
Germany hosts Zelensky today for bilateral talks
06:29
,
Arpan Rai
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to arrive in Berlin today for talks with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to a statement, Mr Merz will receive Mr Zelensky with military honours at the Federal Chancellery at noon (10am GMT).
The newly-inducted German chancellor has ramped up the country’s efforts to help Ukraine fight back against Russian aggression, aligning his efforts with those of the British and the French governments.
On Monday, Mr Merz said his country and other major allies are no longer imposing any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
It was unclear whether this represented a change in policy.
Germany has been the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States since the full-scale war began in February 2022.
US says Russia should focus on ending war, not Trump's social media
05:58
,
Arpan Rai
Russia should focus less on president Donald Trump’s social media posts and more on ending its war against Ukraine, US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said last night.
"If the Russians cared about the nature of how [peace efforts are] proceeding, they would be thinking less about [the president’s statements] and more about what they could do – which is in their hands – to stop the carnage and the slaughter that’s happening right now," Ms Bruce said in a press briefing.
The remarks from the US state department come shortly after the Kremlin blamed Mr Trump’s recent remarks on Vladimir Putin on “emotional overload”.
Mr Trump said the Russian president had gone “absolutely crazy” after the weekend bombardment of Ukraine that killed at least 12 people.
‘Ample evidence’ Russia preparing fresh offensive despite talk of ceasefire, claims Zelensky
05:50
,
Arpan Rai
Russia is preparing to launch a new military offensive in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed, even as the Kremlin suggests it is still open to peace talks.
After days of unprecedented Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine, involving more than 900 missiles and drones, Mr Zelensky claimed Kyiv had obtained intelligence suggesting Moscow was on the brink of a new push.
“We can see from the information obtained by intelligence and from open-source data that Vladimir Putin and his entourage do not plan to end the war,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address on Monday.
“There is currently no indication that they are seriously considering peace or diplomacy. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that they are preparing new offensive operations.”
Russian troops have increased their attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in recent weeks, targeting an area 30 miles long between the two cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, analysts tracking the front line have told The Independent.
Russian bots turn on ‘clown’ Trump after his comments against Putin
05:46
,
Arpan Rai
Russian bots are piling on president Donald Trump, and calling him a “clown,” after he publicly criticised Russian president Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
Nearly 1,000 posts ridiculing Trump have popped up on the Russian social media platform VKontakte since Sunday, after Trump vented that the Russian leader had gone “absolutely CRAZY” and was “needlessly killing a lot of people” in Ukraine.
The pro-government accounts have accused Trump of having dementia, Newsweek reported, citing investigative Russian news outlet Agentstvo.
Putin's reluctance will prolong Ukraine war, warns Germany's Merz
05:41
,
Arpan Rai
The war in Ukraine is expected to persist due to Russia's reluctance to enter negotiations, Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz said.
"Wars typically end because of economic or military exhaustion on one side or on both sides and in this war we are obviously still far from reaching that (situation)", Mr Merz said at a joint press conference with Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo in Turku.
"So we may have to prepare for a longer duration," Mr Merz added.
Trump says Putin avoided ‘really bad things’ — thanks to him
05:29
,
Arpan Rai
Donald Trump has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is “playing with fire” following a barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks across Ukraine.
The U.S. president also suggested Russia has avoided “really bad things” — thanks to him.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.
“He’s playing with fire!”
Russia accuses Finland of provocation over Baltic Sea drills
05:12
,
Arpan Rai
Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Finland of escalating tensions by carrying out pre-organised naval drills, a week after two of Moscow’s fighter jets reportedly violated Finnish airspace.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, claimed Finland’s current naval operations were “becoming a tool of Nato escalation near Russia’s border”. It is not unusual for Moscow to make baseless claims like this.
She was referring to Finland’s Exercise Narrow Waters 25, the country’s annual spring exercise. It was formerly a national exercise but has been developed into an international exercise to include Sweden, Germany and Estonia, following Finland’s accession to Nato and the renewed threat posed by Russia.
Russia is concurrently conducting naval exercises near the exclave of Kaliningrad further south.
Last week, Finland summoned the Russian ambassador after Kremlin warplanes were reported to have crossed into Finnish airspace. It has also been reported that Russia is building a military presence on Finland’s border.
Exercise Narrow Waters 25 – bringing together #NATO Allies from the Baltic Sea region.
— Finland at NATO (@FinlandatNATO) May 27, 2025
The Finnish Navy led exercise trains vessels and troops to conduct joint naval operations in the unique environment of the Baltic Sea, this time together with .#merivoimat #NAWA25 pic.twitter.com/wsW33cAmKz
Russian aerial attacks across Ukraine at record levels
04:53
,
Arpan Rai
Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine in the past week to weaken Kyiv and "undermine" Western support for the war-hit nation, a think-tank has said.
“Russian forces conducted one of their largest drone and missile strikes of the war against Ukraine on the night of 25 to 26 May after three nights of record strikes,” the Institute for the Study of War said.
“The 25-26 May strike is now the second largest combined strike of the war after Russian forces conducted the largest combined strike on the night of 24-25 May,” it added.
Russia is “may be increasing strikes against Ukraine as part of a cognitive warfare effort to weaken Ukrainian resolve and undermine Western support for Ukraine,” the ISW said.
NEW: Russian forces conducted one of their largest drone and missile strikes of the war against Ukraine on the night of May 25 to 26 after three nights of record strikes. ⬇️(1/3)
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) May 27, 2025
The May 25-26 strike is now the second largest combined strike of the war after Russian forces… pic.twitter.com/MnYt11RSKA
Russia attacks Germany's Merz over remarks on long-range attacks
04:34
,
Arpan Rai
Russia said the remarks by German chancellor Friedrich Merz about long-range Ukrainian strikes into Russia with European weapons suggested that a decision allowing such attacks had been made long ago but kept secret.
On Monday night, Mr Merz said there were no longer any range restrictions on the weapons supplied to Ukraine by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and that Ukraine could now do "long range fire".
But his remarks were unclear as he also said that Ukraine had been unable to do that until some time ago.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the remarks indicated the calibre of people who had risen to power in leading European countries.
"He (Merz) said yesterday with such pretentiousness that from now on and forever there are no restrictions on the range of strikes," Mr Lavrov told reporters at a meeting in Moscow with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan.
Mr Lavrov said other German officials appeared to have contradicted the chancellor and that such contradictory signals suggested to Moscow that European powers had long ago decided to allow Ukraine to make long-range strikes deep into Russia with European missiles but that the decision "was kept secret".
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that recent statements by European leaders on the issue had prompted confusion but that if long-range missile fires had been permitted, then it would amount to an "escalation".
Putin's aide warns of Third World War after criticism from Trump
04:25
,
Arpan Rai
Top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev, responding to US president Donald Trump's criticism of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, said the only truly bad thing to worry about was the Third World War.
"Regarding Trump's words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing – WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!" Mr Medvedev wrote in English on the social media platform X.
Donald Trump has been urged to impose major sanctions on Russia after the US president described Vladimir Putin as having “gone absolutely crazy” following a barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks across Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron urged Mr Trump to turn his words into action, while Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, claiming that the time for dialogue was over, called on the US leader to implement “increased sanctions” against Russia.
Trump says Putin is playing with fire
04:17
,
Arpan Rai
US president Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin is "playing with fire."
Trump's latest comments follow some of the biggest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since Russia's full-scale war began in early 2022.
"What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Russian air defences down over 100 drones, including dozens over Moscow
03:53
,
Arpan Rai
Russian air defences destroyed or intercepted well over 100 Ukrainian drones far into the night over widely separated areas of Russia, including a swarm of drones repelled while headed for Moscow, officials said early today.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said defence ministry units had repelled 27 drones while they were travelling towards the Russian capital.
Russia's defence ministry had earlier said its units had downed 112 drones between 9pm and midnight Moscow time. Of these, 59 drones were intercepted over the Bryansk region on the Ukrainian border, with other incidents occurring in five different regions.
Russia only reports the drones it claims to have shot down, and does not reveal total numbers or when they hit their targets.
Russia launched an unprecedented drone attack of its own at the end of last week, including towards Kyiv.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 900 drones were launched over a three-day period ending early on Monday morning.
