From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / June 10, 2025
As Russia unleashes its largest aerial barrage of the war while advancing toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine answers with its own deadly precision across enemy territory
Summary of the Day – June 9, 2025
The ninth day of June bore witness to extremes that captured the war’s evolving brutality and Ukraine’s growing reach. Russia launched its largest combined missile and drone assault of the entire conflict—499 projectiles screaming through Ukrainian skies—while its ground forces crossed into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast for the first time, marking a geographic expansion of Moscow’s territorial ambitions. Yet Ukraine demonstrated its own capacity for devastation, striking deep into Russia with surgical precision that damaged strategic bombers and defense installations. Amid this escalation, the war’s human dimension remained paramount as the first major prisoner exchange in months began, reuniting Ukrainian defenders with their homeland after years in Russian captivity. Meanwhile, international responses ranged from Canada’s accelerated defense spending commitments to U.S. prosecutors targeting Russian money laundering networks, while partisan resistance continued behind enemy lines. The day’s events underscored a conflict entering a new phase of intensity, where technological innovation meets territorial hunger, and diplomatic agreements struggle to keep pace with battlefield realities.
The Deluge from Above: Russia’s Record-Breaking Aerial Assault
The predawn hours of June 9 transformed Ukraine’s skies into a hellscape of incoming death. Russian forces unleashed 499 projectiles in what Ukrainian Air Force officials described as the largest combined missile and drone strike of the entire war—a sobering milestone in a conflict already marked by unprecedented aerial terrorism.
The armada included 479 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys launched from Kursk and Oryol cities, Millerovo in Rostov Oblast, Shatalovo in Smolensk Oblast, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Krasnodar Krai. The aerial assault was supplemented by four Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles from Tambov Oblast, 10 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Saratov Oblast, three Kh-22 missiles and two Kh-31P anti-radar missiles from Black Sea airspace, and one Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missile from occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian forces managed to intercept 479 of the incoming weapons—277 Shahed and decoy drones shot down, 183 drones suppressed by electronic warfare systems, all 10 Kh-101 cruise missiles, all four Kinzhal missiles, two Kh-22 cruise missiles, both anti-radar missiles, and the single Kh-35 cruise missile. Yet strikes hit Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kyiv, Rivne, and Volyn oblasts, with Rivne suffering what Governor Oleksandr Koval called “the largest attack since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war.”
“Of course, there are also hits,” acknowledged Air Force Spokesperson Colonel Yurii Ihnat. “With the number of missiles and drones that Russia is launching, it is impossible to shoot down everything.” The primary target appeared to be one of Ukraine’s airfields, though officials declined to specify which installation bore the brunt of Moscow’s fury.
Crossing the Line: Russian Forces Enter Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
For the first time since 2014, confirmed Russian ground forces crossed into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, marking a geographic expansion that Kremlin officials quickly framed within their broader territorial ambitions. Geolocated footage showed Russian advances to the administrative border northwest of Horikhove, southeast of Novopavlivka, while elements of Russia’s 90th Tank Division engaged Ukrainian forces in the contested border region.
Voice of Ukraine 