Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Putin launches assault with 650 drones and 30 missiles as Zelensky says little one amongst three useless
A four-year-old boy was among at least three people killed after Russia fired more than 650 drones and 30 missiles at Ukraine overnight, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Thirteen regions came under attack in total, Mr Zelensky said, adding that those killed were in the Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr regions.
A 76-year-old woman was killed in the attack on Kyiv, in which three people were injured, including a 16-year-old girl.
The attack also targeted energy infrastructure, particularly in Ukraine’s western regions, prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Mr Zelensky said the strike sends an “extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities”, noting that it took place “in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war”. He urged Ukraine’s Western partners to increase pressure on Moscow.
During the attack, Poland has scrambled aircraft in the early hours of this morning as a “preventive” measure aimed at “securing and protecting the airspace”.
Russia’s major air attack came just hours after Volodymyr Zelensky warned Putin could strike hard over the festive period. Most parts of the war-hit nation were reported to be under air raid alerts.
Russian general killed by bomb under his car in Moscow – ICYMI
Kremlin says weekend Ukraine peace talks did not produce breakthrough
The latest dialogue between Russian and the US officials in Miami on the war in Ukraine should not be seen as a breakthrough, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Calling it a “working process”, Vladimir Putin’s close aide said the discussions were expected to continue in a “meticulous” expert-level format and that Russia’s priority was to obtain from the United States details of Washington’s work with Europeans and Ukrainians on a possible settlement.
He said Moscow would then judge how far those ideas matched what he called the “spirit of Anchorage”.
Earlier, Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks were “productive and constructive”.
The Independent View | Ukraine is showing fighting spirit, and its allies must respond
The Ukrainians have responded to the cautiousness of their European allies with a show of fighting spirit. After European leaders signed off a €90bn loan – as we commented yesterday, “just enough” to hold Vladimir Putin’s forces at bay but not enough to push them back – Ukraine has struck an alleged Russian shadow-fleet oil tanker off Libya, 2,000km from the battlefield.
Ukrainian drones also hit a Russian patrol ship and an offshore drilling platform in the Caspian Sea, hundreds of kilometres away.
This intensification of the long-distance battle that Ukraine is fighting in support of the ground war of attrition on its own territory is a fitting response, both to the hesitation of its allies and to the four-hour monologue of obfuscation delivered by Mr Putin on Friday.
Read The Independent’s view:
Zelensky says progress in US-led peace talks ‘quite solid’
Initial drafts of US proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv’s demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
But he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.
“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with US officials who are trying to steer the neighbouring countries toward compromises.
“There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I’m sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
In pictures: Russian launches huge air attack on Kyiv
Woman, 76, killed and three injured in Russian attack on Kyiv
A 76-year-old woman has been killed in Russia’s large-scale attack on Kyiv, according to the region’s military administration.
Three people were also injured, including a 16-year-old girl, military administration chief Mykola Kalashnyk said.
The attack caused a fire to break out in a two-storey house in the Vyshhorod district.
Two houses were also damaged in the Obukhiv district, where windows were blown out and roofs damaged, authorities added.
Boy, 4, among three people dead after Russia fires 680 drones and missiles – Zelensky
A massive Russian strike on Ukraine on Tuesday killed at least three people, including a four-year-old child, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
More than 650 drones and more than 30 missiles were launched at Ukraine, he said.
A woman was killed in the Kyiv region, one person was killed in the Khmelnytskyi region, and the four-year-old was killed in the Zhytomyr region after a Russian drone attacked a residential building, the Ukrainian president said in an update on social media.
“This Russian strike sends an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities. An attack was carried out essentially in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Mr Zelensky urged Ukraine’s Western partners to increase pressure on Moscow.
Russia fires dozens of missiles and 600 drones in overnight attack, says Ukrainian PM
Russia launched dozens of missiles and more than 600 drones in its early morning air attack across Ukraine including on the capital Kyiv, prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Earlier, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Timur Tkachenko, urged people to stay in their shelters until given the all-clear.
Ukraine’s energy sector was again one of the main targets of the attacks, prompting emergency power outages in a number of regions, including the capital Kyiv and its surrounding region, Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Tuesday.
It was infrastructure in Ukraine’s western regions which suffered the most damage, Ms Svyrydenko added.
In photos: Major Russian attack on Kyiv region destroys houses and apartments
Buildings in Kyiv attacked in overnight Russia attack
Russian forces have attacked Kyiv and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the early hours today, triggering emergency outages, just two days after US-led Miami peace talks ended.
As of 6.20am GMT, air raid alerts covered nearly all of Ukraine, according to the country’s air force.
Debris fell near a residential building in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district, damaging windows, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
Source: independent.co.uk
