Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine’s major drone strikes against Russian airbases, which damaged dozens of Russian warplanes, shows what a “modern war really looks like”.

Speaking in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said: “Today, I addressed the participants of the Summit in Vilnius and emphasised that the key to lasting peace is clear – the aggressor must not receive any reward for war. Putin must get nothing that would justify his aggression.

Any reward would only show the Russian president “that war pays off”, he said.

“We talked about our operation inside Russia, which has seriously weakened their military. Operation ‘Spiderweb’ showed what modern war really looks like and why it’s so important to stay ahead with technology,” the Ukrainian leader said.

When the lorry stopped close to the Belaya airfield at the weekend, and the wooden sheds onboard opened their roofs to release a swarm of quadcopters, warfare changed for ever.

The homegrown operation to hide drones in false compartments within prefabricated sheds and unleash them simultaneously many thousands of miles apart – and many thousands of miles behind enemy lines – has clipped the wings of Vladimir Putin’s strategic air operations.

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended barely an hour after they began yesterday.

The talks – the second such direct contacts between the sides since 2022 – had already begun nearly two hours later than scheduled with no explanation of the delay.

Although the atmosphere was subdued and dialogue brief, the talks did yield an agreement to conduct a new prisoner exchange and Ukraine said another round of talks was on the agenda.

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv's delegation, announced after the talks that a new prisoner exchange of at least 1,000 more soldiers had been agreed to follow up on the biggest prisoner swap of the war brokered at the last round of talks.

He said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people.

Mr Umerov also said that Moscow had handed its own draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Kyiv – which has drawn up its own version - would review the Russian document.

Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes that only a meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Mr Umerov said.

Mr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv's delegation had handed over a list of children it said had been deported to Russia and which it wanted back. Moscow says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting.

Mr Umerov said Kyiv had been unable to react to Russia's proposals for peace because it had only seen them yesterday at the talks.

The part of the Zaporizhzhia region controlled by Russia has lost power as a result of attacks by Ukrainian forces, Russia's news agencies reported early this morning.

"As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," RIA reported, citing Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the Russian-installed administration of the Zaporizhzhia region.

"There is no electricity throughout the region," he said.

The power outage has not affected the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, TASS news agency reported, citing an official at the plant.

Russia does not want a ceasefire and new sanctions are needed now to force it to pursue peace, the chief of staff to the Ukrainian president said yesterday.

"The Russians are doing everything to not cease firing and continue the war. New sanctions now are very important," said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office.

Mr Yermak posted his remarks on Telegram, hours after the conclusion of peace talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.