CNN
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Since last sitting down with Ukraine to talk peace, Russia has launched four of its five largest drone attacks against the country, killed more than 340 of its civilians and continued to peddle its false narrative about the unprovoked war it has been waging for more than a decade.

Now, Moscow wants to talk. Again.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the next round of talks between Russia and Ukraine would take place in Turkey on Monday. On Sunday, Kyiv confirmed that it would be sending a delegation to the meeting, as Russian state media reported that a Russian delegation was flying to Istanbul for the talks.

Kyiv says that Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange their requirements for a ceasefire during their previous meeting in Istanbul last month. But while Kyiv said it presented its plan last week, Russia has not.

The Kremlin has so far ignored the call by Ukraine to present the plan. In a post on Telegram on Wednesday, Lavrov said the Russian delegation would present its memorandum to Ukraine at the meeting on June 2.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Kremlin’s failure to hand over its plan was “another Russian deception” and accused Moscow of not wanting to end the war.

“For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,” Zelensky wrote on X on Friday, after hosting Turkey’s foreign minister for talks in Kyiv.

Zelensky said he’d also discussed the potential second round of peace talks with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, writing on Telegram: “We discussed a possible next meeting in Istanbul and under what conditions Ukraine is ready to take part in it. We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty.”

In a post on X on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader said that he had requested “preparation of the (Istanbul) meeting at the highest level” in order to “establish a reliable and lasting peace and ensure security.” Zelensky added that Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would lead the delegation again.

But even though Russian and Ukrainian officials have agreed to meet on Monday, their summit is unlikely to yield any immediate results.

Statements made by Russian officials in recent days make it clear that Moscow is sticking to its maximalist demands.

Speaking after a phone call with US President Donald Trump on May 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his demand that the “root causes” of the conflict must be eliminated.

The “root causes” include long-held Russian grievances that include the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state, and NATO’s eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War.

Kyiv has dismissed these demands, as accepting them would effectively amount to capitulation.

The talks on Monday may be designed mostly to appease Trump, who has repeatedly told both Ukraine and Russia that there will be consequences if they don’t engage in his peace process.

Trump has been pressuring Kyiv to talk to Moscow, threatening to walk away from the talks and cut US aid if he concludes that Ukraine isn’t cooperating.

And while he has threatened “massive sanctions” against Russia if it doesn’t agree with his 30-day ceasefire proposal, he has also voiced concern that potential new sanctions on Russia could jeopardize a deal.

On Friday, a bipartisan pair of US senators met with Zelensky in Kyiv. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut are co-sponsoring a bill to impose more sanctions on Russia – including a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. It must pass both chambers of Congress and be approved by Trump to become law.

Asked by reporters on Friday if he would support the bill, Trump responded: “I don’t know, I’ll have to see it. I’ll take a look at it.”

Putin has not explicitly rejected the ceasefire proposals, choosing instead to delay and distract.

Russia’s insistence on having the talks and presenting its ceasefire proposal only once the two sides meet is just the latest example of this tactic.

Putin initially proposed the first round of the talks in response to the ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Ukraine’s European allies.

The Russian president ignored the ultimatum, proposing instead “direct talks” between Moscow and Kyiv. This prompted Trump, who initially backed the ultimatum, to change his tune and call on Zelensky to “take the meeting.”

Moscow’s conduct since the talks last month suggests no desire to end the war with a ceasefire.

Russian forces have intensified airborne attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, are stepping up ground attacks in many areas along the front line, and Moscow is building up its forces elsewhere.

At the same time, Putin ordered one of the largest expansions of the Russian military in recent years.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, Ukraine carried out its most ambitious simultaneous strikes on Russian airbases since the war began, using drones to destroy multiple Russian combat planes on Sunday, according to a source in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed Ukraine had targeted Russian airfields across five regions, calling the drone strikes “terrorist attacks.”

The day before, two bridges in western regions of Russia collapsed, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens. It was not clear on Sunday morning whether the two incidents — which both involved trains — in neighboring Bryansk and Kursk were related, or what exactly caused the separate collapses. Investigators from Russia’s Investigative Committee were working at the scenes to establish the circumstances of what happened.

Expectations were running high ahead of the talks last month, the first direct meeting between Ukraine and Russia since the early days of the full-scale war. This was mostly because of speculation that Putin himself might show up, after being challenged to travel to Turkey by Zelensky.

When the Russian leader sent a low-level delegation in his place, it became clear no breakthrough was in sight. Although the two sides agreed to hold the largest ever prisoner exchange during the meeting, there was no sign of a ceasefire agreement being any closer.

As for the latest meeting, while it’s obvious that neither Moscow nor Kyiv are particularly keen on talking to each other, and have little expectation of actual progress, they are likely to play along just to keep Trump interested.

CNN
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Ukraine has carried out large-scale drone strikes against four airbases deep inside Russia, destroying multiple combat planes, according to a source in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

If confirmed, the attacks would be the most ambitious simultaneous strikes on Russian airbases carried out by Ukraine since the war began.

The SBU source said that Russian bombers were “burning en masse” at four airbases hundreds of miles apart, adding that drones had been launched from trucks inside Russia.

More than 40 aircraft were known to have been hit, according to the source, including TU-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and one of Russia’s few remaining A-50 surveillance planes.

The airfields targeted included Belaya in Irkutsk, some 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Russia, and the Dyagilevo base in Ryazan in western Russia, about 520 kilometers (320 miles) from Ukraine, which is a training center for Russia’s strategic bomber force.

The Olenya base near Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Ukraine, was also struck, according to the source, as well as the Ivanovo airbase, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Ukraine. Ivanovo is a base for Russian military transport aircraft.

There has been no comment from the Russian Defense Ministry on the attacks. But the governor of Irkutsk region, Igor Kobziev, said that drones had been launched from a truck near the Belaya base.

Kobziev said on Telegram that the exact number of drones deployed had not been determined. Emergency and security services were at the site, he added.

SBU drones were targeting aircraft that bomb Ukrainian cities every night, the SBU source said – estimating the damage caused to the Russian side at more than $2 billion.

One video supplied by the source purportedly shows the Belaya airfield in flames and the voice of the head of the SBU, Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk, commenting on the situation. “How beautiful Belaya airfield looks now. Enemy’s strategic aircraft,” he says.

CNN was able to confirm the location of that video, as well as two others posted on social media showing smoke rising from the Belaya airbase. It was not immediately able to independently verify other videos provided by the SBU.

The SBU source said that the operation was “extremely complicated from a logistical point of view,” with the drones carried inside wooden mobile homes that had been carried into Russia on board trucks.

“The drones were hidden under the roofs of the houses, which were already placed on trucks. At the right moment, the roofs were remotely opened, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers.”

One video purportedly of one attack appears to show drones rising from a truck, as vehicles pass on a nearby highway. Another image shows the roof of the truck on the ground.

The source added that people involved were already back in Ukraine.

CNN’s Frankie Vetch and Eve Brennan contributed to this report.

CNN
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Still haven’t pressed “purchase” on your summer vacation? There’s some good news for procrastinators this hectic travel season.

If you have yet to book peak summer airfare to popular destinations in Europe, among other places, you can expect to find lower prices and more award availability than the norm for this typically busy time of year, travel experts say.

The indications of a slowdown in global travel, paired with ongoing economic uncertainty, are resulting in some bargain international and domestic airfares.

And now might be the sweet spot for finding a last-minute summer travel deal.

Travel expert Katy Nastro, with airfare tracking site Going, says that while it’s hardly an exact science, there’s typically a “Goldilocks” window for booking flights during peak travel times, such as summer.

It’s usually recommended to lock in peak-season domestic airfare at least three to seven months out from the date you plan to travel. For international flights, the experts at Going suggest booking four to ten months out for peak dates.

But this summer has “sort of flipped itself on its head,” Nastro says, adding that even for close-in travel dates to destinations near and far, there are still summer airfare deals to be had for people booking just one to three months out.

For non-peak travel periods, the Goldilocks window is one to three months in advance for domestic fares and two to eight months out for international flights.

It’s not only domestic destinations with deals, says Nastro, calling this summer “the golden summer of cheap flights.”

“Typically, at this point, you’d be hard-pressed to find something over to Europe in the $400s, round-trip, from major cities in the US … We’re still seeing that, which is really incredible,” says Nastro.

She cited a deal spotted on May 28 showing mid-July round-trip airfare from New York to Dublin for $392 on Aer Lingus, and select July and August dates for round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to Paris for $579 on French Bee.

On May 29, round-trip domestic airfare deals spotted by Going included Miami to Las Vegas in August for $175; Cincinnati to Charleston for $78 (June-August availability); and New York City to Nashville for $127 (July and August availability).

This summer is unique, Nastro says, because there’s still “abundance and availability” for flights to destinations in Europe, as well as Canada and Mexico, and Latin American destinations such as Brazil and Peru.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, data collected from third-party sources (primarily online travel agencies) indicates bookings from major US cities to major European cities made between the end of January and mid-May are down by about 10% for travel this June, July and August.

Bookings made in the opposite direction, from the Europe to the US, are down 12%.

The drop in international arrivals into the US appears to be having a bigger impact more broadly for airfares on European carriers than US carriers, Nastro says.

She suggests looking for deals on airlines such as Aer Lingus, SAS, Lufthansa, Norse Atlantic Airways and Icelandair.

“That doesn’t mean that you can’t find something on Delta, United, etcetera. (But) what we’ve noticed is more so the deals are coming from these European carriers,” she says.

For the best deals to Europe this summer, staying flexible is the key to success, says Hayley Berg, lead economist at the travel platform Hopper.

Berg says airfare to Europe from major US hubs this summer is comparable to what it was during the summer of 2019, which was one of the cheapest summers in recent memory for travel to Europe thanks to low fuel prices, competition and the entry of new lower-cost airlines.

Hopper’s 2025 International Travel Guide reports airfare from the US to Europe is averaging $817 per ticket this summer — down 10% from last summer’s prices, despite the fact that, overall, more international flights are scheduled to depart from US airports to global international destinations this summer than in 2024.

Consumers who can stay flexible about where they fly and when they go to Europe can expect to get the best deals, Berg says. That means traveling on weekdays and taking the deal-seeking approach.

“Where I most frequently see low prices are Dublin, Stockholm, Copenhagen. And then … depending on when in the summer you go, the trifecta of London, Paris and Rome,” Berg says. “Just because there’s so much volume that flies into those (three) destinations, you are likely to find a deal if you kind of do your homework.”

When it comes to the best travel dates for cheaper fares to Europe, the last two weeks of August is the sweet spot for savings, she says.

“The average airfare is $300 cheaper if you travel in the last two weeks of August versus the peak in June and July,” she says.

As an added bonus, once you’re there, you can also expect fewer crowds, cheaper accommodations and shorter lines at major European attractions like the Vatican at that time of year, Berg says.

Domestic airfare within the US is down about 3% for bookings this summer over last summer, she adds, in particular to big US city hubs like New York City, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles.

But travelers who shop around and aren’t locked into specific dates can find significantly more savings.

“If you use some of our advice around being flexible, you can shave a couple hundred dollars off of a domestic trip for a family of four, or even a couple,” Berg says.

Jack Ezon, founder of EMBARK Beyond travel agency, says Europe’s summer of savings goes beyond airfare. He points to Greece, in particular, as being full of relative summer bargains right now.

“Mykonos, Santorini, there’s opportunity on the mainland, pretty much everywhere. We’re seeing guaranteed room upgrades and lots of great programs at hotels trying to promote it,” he says.

While this summer’s surprise season of cheaper airfares might make it tempting to roll the dice and wait before booking anything, dragging your feet too much longer into June isn’t likely to pay off if you’re looking to score a deal, says Nastro.

People who were hesitant to book anything because of uncertainties surrounding travel and the markets are likely to start making plans sooner rather than later, she says. As a result, airfares are expected to go up.

“I don’t want people to get in the thinking that, ‘Oh, I could just book something for July 4th at the end of June, and I should be safe,’” she says. “Our age-old wisdom, and just knowing what we know about airfare, that’s not going to be the case — even in this unique summer that we are in.”

Frequent travelers and credit card holders sitting on a pile of loyalty points and miles should tap them for unexpected summer deals, says Tiffany Funk, co-founder of award flight search tool, point.me.

“How award seats work is they are distressed inventory,” she says. “For the most part, these are seats that airlines have acknowledged they’re probably not going to sell. Those are the ones that they really let their loyalty programs leverage.”

And while there’s not exactly a “glut of award seats” available this summer, Funk says there are more options for redeeming awards now compared to last summer.

Being open — to award options that pop up last-minute and to flying in the back of the plane — is one way to score a deal.

“For people who, like myself, have not put together their summer travel plans yet and are able to be opportunistic, that’s always a good way to use your points,” says Funk, adding that the best awards pricing point.me has seen for travel this summer has been in economy class.

“Prior to 2021, pretty reliably, airlines did not really sell a lot of their premium cabin seats. Now they sell the majority of them,” she says, leading to more award inventory available in economy class.

Recent one-way economy class award airfares booked on point.me include New York to Paris in August on Virgin Atlantic for 9,600 miles plus $75 per person and Phoenix to London in August on American Airlines for 15,000 miles plus $6 per person.

Points also have the advantage of being much more flexible than cash when it comes to changes and cancellations, says Funk — something travelers might particularly appreciate in more uncertain times.

“So if you see something, book it. You can always change it later. For most of these programs, there’s not a fee to do that,” Funk says.

The time to strike is now.

“I think we’ve all been holding our breath, but really, what the population is showing us is they want to go on vacation and they’re willing to pay for it. And if there are great deals, they’re going to find them so that they can get more for that budget.”

Terry Ward is a Florida-based travel writer and freelance journalist in Tampa who is guilty of hoarding her Star Alliance miles.