How Ukraine and Russia are playing out a deadly cat and mouse drone war from underground bunkersYour support helps us to tell the story
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Three people have been killed and dozens more injured in a Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s capital.
At least 29 people were injured, seven of them children, in the attack which took place overnight into Sunday.
Ukraine‘s interior minister said a 19-year-old woman and her mother were among those killed in what was the second consecutive nighttime attack on Kyiv to claim civilian lives.
Russia said it struck infrastructure serving Ukraine’s war effort on Saturday, but did not comment on strikes on Kyiv or civilian casualties.
Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin said Russia has tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, which he says can “pierce any defence shield”.
Moscow says the 9M730 Burevestnik is “invincible” to current and future missile defences, with an almost unlimited range and unpredictable flight path.
“It is a unique ware which nobody else in the world has,” Putin said in remarks released on Sunday, adding its “crucial testing” had been concluded.
Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that the missile travelled 14,000 km and was in the air for about 15 hours when it was tested on October 21.
How Ukraine and Russia are playing out a deadly cat and mouse drone war
Ramzan darts about his garage workshop with gleeful enthusiasm, showing off a small blue mortar bomb from “Holland or Poland”, a whopping thin-tailed, bulging-headed shell from America, Ukrainian bespoke high-explosive packed grenades and even an anti-tank mine – all for dropping on the heads of Russians.
A former infantry soldier, he has been at war for three years and says he misses the thrill of fighting up close, but, as the armourer for a four-man drone team flying an unmanned bomber in the National Guard’s Typhoon drone unit: “This is the best way to kill Russians.”In a war of constant frontline improvisation, workshops like Ramzan’s garage – where he makes his own detonators and devises new types of incendiary bombs – have taken on the value of billion-pound industrial-military research centres in Nato countries.
Drone war was pioneered by self-funded Ukrainian soldiers adapting civilian toys to mortal effect. Kyiv now has the capacity to produce drones by the million, but on the front lines the model remains a killer startup.
Sam Kiley joins the Ukrainian infantry near Zaporizhzhia:
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 04:49
Drone hits minibus in Russia’s Bryansk killing driver and injuring five
A Ukrainian drone hit a minibus in the Bryansk region, killing the driver and injuring five people, the governor of the southwestern Russian region bordering Ukraine said this morning.
All those injured were taken to a local hospital, the governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said on his Telegram channel.
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 04:28
State Department thought Putin had no interest in ending Ukraine war
Ahead of a controversial August summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin, the State Department’s internal intelligence agency took a more dim view of the question than other sectors of the administration, warning the president of Putin’s reluctance to end the conflict in assessments and presidential briefings, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“We kept standing firm,” John Williams, who resigned earlier this year from his post as director of the State Department’s Russia-Eurasia analysis in the intelligence bureau, told the paper. “We didn’t see that [Putin] had incentive to negotiate an end to the war.”
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 04:19
Ukraine ready to fight for another two to three years, says Tusk
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said that Ukraine is concerned about the toll the war could take on its population and economy if it were to stretch on for longer than a few more years.
“I have no doubts Ukraine will survive as an independent state,” Tusk told the Sunday Times. “Now the main question is how many victims we will see. President Zelensky told me [on Thursday] that he hopes that the war will not last ten years, but that Ukraine is ready to fight for another two, three years.”
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 04:08
Russia says it has downed 34 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow
Russian air defence systems destroyed 34 Ukrainian drones that targeted Moscow through repeated attacks overnight and forced a temporary closure of two of the city’s four airports, Russian authorities said this morning.
The drones were downed within a span of six hours, starting at just before 10pm on Sunday Moscow time (1900 GMT), the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin said.
Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said the Domodedovo airport and the smaller Zhukovsky airport were shut for about two and a half hours from 2240 GMT to ensure air safety.
In the Tula region, which borders the Moscow region to the north, 24 drones were destroyed in the early hours today, regional governor Dmitry Miliyaev said on Telegram.
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 04:00
Kremlin still open to Trump-Putin summit: ‘It’s complicated’
Russia has suggested it is still open to a leaders’ summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, which the US president appeared to give up on last week.
“Presidents cannot meet for the sake of meeting, they cannot just waste their time, and they are open about that. That’s why they instructed (Russian foreign minister Sergei) Lavrov and (US secretary of state Marco) Rubio to prepare this process. The process is complicated,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state TV Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin.
Peskov also commented on sanctions imposed by the US on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft, calling them “an unfriendly step”, but said that Russia seeks to build friendly relations with all countries, including the US.
“Despite the various nuances voiced by the president of the United States, we must still be oriented towards our interests. Our interests are to build good relations with all countries, including the United States,” said Peskov, a close ally of the Russian president.
“Of course, the actions that were taken this week were an unfriendly step. They have indeed damaged the prospects for resuscitating our relations. But that does not mean that we should abandon these aspirations. We should do what is favourable to us,” Peskov said.
Donald Trump greets Russian president Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage in Alaska (AFP via Getty Images)
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 03:29
Three killed as Russia targets Kyiv with drones
At least three people were killed after Russia targeted Ukraine’s capital with drones, officials said.
At least 29 people were wounded, seven of them children, in the second consecutive nighttime attack on Kyiv to claim civilian lives.
Ukraine’s interior minister Ihor Klymenko said a 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother were among the killed.
Russian drones caused fires in two residential buildings in the capital’s Desnianskyi district. Emergency crews evacuated civilians from a nine-story and a 16-story building, put out flames and cleared the rubble.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 101 drones overnight into Sunday, according to Ukraine’s air force, of which 90 were shot down and neutralised. Five drones hit four locations and drone debris fell on five other places, the statement said.
Firefighters work at a destroyed apartment building after a Russian drone attack in Kyiv (AP)
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 03:22
Moscow airports closed amid Ukrainian drone attack
At least two airports in Moscow were shut down as Russia engaged its air defence systems overnight to repel Ukrainian drone attacks, officials said.
Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said that the large Domodedovo airport and the smaller Zhukovsky airport were closed to ensure air safety, starting at 2240 GMT.
Within a span of five hours, starting at just before 10pm last night Moscow time, Russian defence units downed 28 drones, said Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The information on any potential damage was not immediately clear.
Russia’s defence ministry rarely discloses the full scale of damages inflicted by Ukrainian strikes inside its territory unless civilian objects are involved.
File: A plane flies out of Domodedovo airport, one of the most prominent airports in Russia’s capital (Getty Images)
Arpan Rai27 October 2025 02:58
Watch: Why Russians are fighting against Russia: ‘Putin has not only ruined Ukraine, he’s ruined my country’Why Russians are fighting against Russia: ‘Putin has not only ruined Ukraine, he’s ruined my country’
Bryony Gooch27 October 2025 02:00
Recap: Slovakia will not be part of EU scheme for Ukraine’s military needs, PM Fico says
Slovakia will not take part in any European Union programme aimed at financing military help for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Sunday.
Slovakia stopped state military aid for Ukraine when Fico’s government came to power in 2023, but has still allowed commercial sales. Fico differs with European Union states on the war, saying a solution is not on the battlefield.
HUNGRÍA-ESLOVAQUIA (AP)
EU leaders agreed on Thursday to meet Ukraine’s “pressing financial needs” for the next two years but held off on endorsing a plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund a 140 billion euro loan to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the money could be used right away to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence, air fleet and frontline positions.
“I refuse to allow Slovakia to take part in any financial scheme aimed at helping Ukraine manage the war and military spending,” Fico told a televised news conference.
Bryony Gooch27 October 2025 01:00