Ukrainian serviceman from anti-drone mobile air defence unit is seen during an overnight shift, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv Region, Ukraine August 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
“Russia launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight,” Kyiv said on Saturday (August 16, 2025), hours after Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held their Alaska talks. The highly anticipated meeting in the remote U.S. state ended with no breakthrough in halting Russia’s more than three-year-long Ukraine invasion.
Ukraine’s airforce said Moscow had “attacked with an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 85 Shahed-type” drones, while also attacking “frontline areas” in four regions. In its daily report, the airforce said the attacks took place “on the night of August 16” and starting in the evening of August 15 — when Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump held their negotiations. Kyiv said its air defences shot down 61 of the drones.
The Trump-Putin summit ended with no ceasefire announcement, despite the West pressing the Kremlin for months to commit to a halt in fighting. Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet publicly reacted to the talks. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched by Putin in February 2022, has killed thousands.
Published – August 16, 2025 01:09 pm IST
