Ukraine’s Zelensky says Putin ‘doesn’t want actual peace’ as two Russian strikes kill 12 and wounds dozens together with child woman

Ukrainian President Zelensky has said Putin ‘does not need real peace’ after two Russian aerial attacks killed at least 12 and injured dozens more, including a baby. 

Shocking images show fires engulfing parts of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, where at least 10 people were killed following a Russian aerial attack on December 6. 

Clouds of billowing smoke covered the sky as flames tore through buildings and cars, as emergency responders rushed to the devastating scenes to help the injured.

It is believed two others have been killed in a separate air strike on Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rig yesterday, officials said. 

Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov confirmed the attack had hit a car garage and a service station, posting images of the inferno and debris strewn across the street, 

A total of 24 people have been wounded, including a four-month-old girl and at least two other children aged four and 11, the governor said. 

The Ukrainian President has said the attacks showed Russia had no interest in a deal to end its nearly three-year invasion, as Moscow ramps up its air strikes.

‘Thousands of such strikes carried out by Russia during this war make it absolutely clear that Putin does not need real peace,’ Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.

‘Only by force can we resist this. And only through force can real peace be established,’ he added.

Ukraine’s national emergency services said on Telegram that the petrol station blaze was extinguished along with blazing six cars.

Another 17 were wounded in the strike on Kryvyi Rig in the centre of Ukraine, the President confirmed.

Among the injured in Zelensky’s hometown was a six-year-old boy, Oleksandr Vilkul the head of Kryvyi Rig military administration said. 

A three-storey building was destroyed, and residential buildings as well as cars were damaged in the airstrike, according to the agency.

It comes after weeks of sharp escalation in the conflict, with Russia stepping up its attacks on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure at the start of winter.

The support of Kyiv’s key ally – the US – has been brought into question as Donald Trump’s return to the White House looms.  

Meanwhile Ukraine’s outgunned and outmanned forces have buckled across the eastern front in the face of a grinding pre-winter offensive from Russia.

Moscow said Friday its forces had captured a village near the embattled supply hub of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial town of Kurakhove, gaining further ground in two key areas of the east Ukraine frontline.

It comes shortly after Zelensky hinted he would agree a ceasefire deal to end the Ukraine war if Nato agrees to accept his country as a member. 

In an interview with Sky News, the Ukrainian president suggested he was prepared to end the ‘hot phase’ of the war in exchange for membership of the bloc.

He said if the Ukrainian territory he controls was taken ‘under the NATO umbrella’, he could return the rest, which is currently under Russian occupation, in a ‘diplomatic way’.

Zelensky had previously suggested that the war would not end until his country is returned to its internationally recognised borders.

‘If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,’ Zelensky said.

‘We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.’

The Ukrainian leader was answering questions on what president-elect Donald Trump’s desire to end the war would mean for his country.

It has been reported that one of the Republican’s plans to achieve this would involve Kyiv ceding the land taken by Russia in exchange for Ukraine’s Nato membership.

Mr Zelensky’s concessions follow a series of disappointments on the battlefield for Ukraine. Russia has taken six times as much Ukrainian territory in 2024 as it did last year.

And the pace of the Kremlin’s advances has forced Ukraine to send thousands of reservists to reinforce vulnerable areas in the east.

The Kremlin’s so-called ‘meat grinder’ tactics have resulted in Russia’s daily casualty figures breaking 2,000 for the first time, according to figures released in November.

Troops are ordered to charge at gunpoint towards Ukrainian defensive positions, leading to territorial gains but increasingly high losses through death, injury and fleeing from the frontline.

Zelensky’s comments also come after an alliance chief assured last month that Ukraine will become a Nato member in the future – but was unable to say when the country might join.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte reiterated on October 17 that the war-torn nation’s place is among NATO’s ranks.

‘Ukraine will be a member of NATO in the future,’ Rutte said. ‘The question is exactly about the ‘when’. I cannot answer that now.’

He said Vladimir Putin must understand that ‘we are in this, if necessary, for the long haul. And obviously we want to be in a place where Zelensky and Ukraine, from a position of strength, is able to start talks with Russia.’

Analysts expect the next few months to be crucial as both sides jostle for battlefield momentum ahead of what are expected to be peace negotiations imposed by Trump.

Zelensky is set to travel to Paris this weekend for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral, where he hopes to meet with the US president-elect, a senior Ukraine official told AFP.

Trump, a sceptic of US aid to Kyiv, has said he could end the war within 24 hours of coming to office, but has yet to say how he intends to do so.

Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine would not be able to hold off Russia’s advancing troops without US support.

There are currently fears in Kyiv that Trump could try to force them to accept peace terms favourable to Russia.

Ukraine worries after Trump named Keith Kellogg, a retired general and critic of US military aid, as his Ukraine envoy last month.

President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration announced an additional $725-million (£568,850,515) military package for the country on Monday.