From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / May 19, 2025
Moscow launches largest drone assault of the war as Putin prepares to speak with Trump, while Europe rallies around Ukraine and Romania rejects the far-right
Summary of the Day – May 18, 2025
As dawn broke over Ukraine on May 18, the debris of Moscow’s largest single drone attack littered the landscape—273 Shaheds and decoys that announced Russia’s intentions more clearly than any diplomatic communiqué. Coming mere hours before Putin’s scheduled call with Trump, the assault killed at least two civilians and injured 23 more while demonstrating the Kremlin’s contempt for Western peace efforts. Yet the day also brought signs of resilience: Romania rejected far-right candidate George Simion’s anti-Ukrainian platform, electing pro-EU Nicusor Dan as president, while European leaders coordinated their approach ahead of the Trump-Putin call. Putin himself revealed his hand through leaked documentary footage, declaring Russia has “enough forces and means” to achieve its war aims without concessions, even as his intelligence services prepared an intercontinental ballistic missile “training” launch designed to intimidate Western capitals.
Death from Above: Russia’s Record-Breaking Drone Assault
The numbers told their own brutal story: 273 drones launched in a single night—the largest aerial assault of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Launched from Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol cities, as well as Millerovo in Rostov Oblast and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Krasnodar Krai, the swarm represented a coordinated attack across multiple directions designed to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.
Ukrainian forces managed to destroy 88 drones while 128 others—likely decoys packed with jamming equipment rather than warheads—vanished from radar screens. Yet enough penetrated the defenses to exact their intended toll: in Kyiv Oblast, one civilian died and three were wounded when drones struck residential areas, while Donetsk Oblast lost another life in Yablunivka.
The scale dwarfed the previous record of 267 drones launched on February 23, marking a grim milestone in Russia’s campaign of technological terror. The attack targeted multiple oblasts simultaneously—Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—creating a coordinated assault that spread Ukrainian defenses thin across hundreds of kilometers.
Voice of Ukraine 