Ukraine drones destroy Russian planes deep inside Russia ahead of peace talks in Istanbul

Ahead of second talks in Türkiye, Ukraine and Russia ramp up their military operations against each other, with Kyiv launching one of its "most ambitious" counteroffensives against the Kremlin.

Lee Eun-jin has the latest.

Ukraine and Russia are set to sit down for a second round of peace talks at around 1 PM local time in Istanbul on Monday.

But just a day prior, on June 1st, a Ukrainian drone attack had destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in Russia's territory.

In an evening address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the operation had been planned for more than a year and a half, and used 117 drones to carry out the attacks.

It's been reported that Zelenskyy personally supervised the operation, which he claims was headquartered out of an office next to the local Russian intelligence and security service.

Codenamed "Spider's web," over the 18 months it took to prepare, sheds of drones were smuggled into Russia aboard special compartments of freight trucks, deployed to at least four separate locations in the perimeters of air bases, then the roof panels of the sheds were removed remotely to launch the attack.

According to Ukraine's domestic security agency, the operation disabled 34 percent of Russia's strategic cruise missile bombers and caused approximately 7 billion U.S. dollars in damage.

Meanwhile, Russia also launched a significant attack on Ukrainian territory overnight on the same day with some 472 drones and seven ballistic and cruise missiles, killing 12 Ukrainian soldiers and injuring over 60 others.

It has been reported that the previous meeting of the two sides on May 16th resulted in the war's biggest prisoner swap but showed no signs of peace or even a ceasefire.

It was also then that Ukraine and Russia agreed to exchange their conditions for a ceasefire for the second round of talks.

Kyiv presented its terms last week, a roadmap for a long-term peace settlement, outlining an initial 30-day ceasefire as a first step, followed by the mutual return of prisoners and the repatriation of Ukrainian children taken to Russian-controlled territory.

Russia said it would present its proposal at the meeting.

Neither heads of state are expected to attend the peace talks.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to lead the Ukrainian representation, while the Russian delegation will be led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky.

Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.