RUSSIA launched 479 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight bombardment so far in the three-year war, the Ukrainian air force said today.

This comes as the Kremlin presses its summer offensive against the backdrop of direct peace talks.

As well as drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas.

Ukraine’s air force said its air defences destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles in mid-flight on Sunday night, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured.

A recent escalation in aerial attacks has coincided with Russia’'s renewed battlefield push on eastern and north-eastern parts of the roughly 620-mile front line.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday that in some of those areas “the situation is very difficult.”

Two recent rounds of direct peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul have yielded no significant breakthroughs beyond pledges to swap prisoners as well as thousands of dead and seriously wounded troops.