Ukraine’s Zelenskyy plans to hit Russia with ‘1,000 drones’ a day

Ukrainian president seeks to step up attacks following a Moscow visit from the US spy chief.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on his military to increase its long-range drone strikes against Russia as Moscow continues to carry out deadly attacks across Ukraine.In his evening address on Friday, Zelenskyy said he plans for the army to launch at least “1,000 drones” against Russia daily, a more than threefold jump from the current estimate of 300.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Ukraine reinforces Donetsk as it seeks to disrupt Russia’s weapons flowlist 2 of 4Video: Ukrainian drones target Wildberries e-commerce hub in Russialist 3 of 4Russia warns it could target UK in response to Kyiv firing British missileslist 4 of 4Russian military serviceman killed in car bomb in St Petersburgend of list“There needs to be more,” the president said. “There is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil this task.”In a Telegram post, Zelenskyy also addressed reports that the United States’s spy chief, John Ratcliffe, had visited Moscow for meetings.Zelenskyy said Kyiv “received information from the American side about the meetings in Moscow that took place these days”, but did not elaborate further.“There were a number of meetings there,” he added, thanking the US “for the information and for the necessary tone of the conversation with Russia”.The Kremlin confirmed Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, but said there were “no meetings of any kind with the Russian president”.The CIA director’s visit to Moscow marked a rare high-level direct intelligence engagement amid stalled peace negotiations.Smoke rises from a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, August 28, 2026 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]Deaths across UkraineOngoing Russian attacks have killed several people and wounded dozens across Ukraine over the past day.At least one person was killed and two others injured in the Kyiv region early on Friday, regional Governor Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.