A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine killed at least six people, including a woman and her two young daughters, officials said yesterday, as US-led efforts to end the war floundered and Ukraine’s president sought more foreign military help.
Repeated waves of missiles and drones throughout the night targeted at least eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the Kyiv region where a strike set fire to a house in which the mother and her six-month and 12-year-old daughters were staying, Kyiv Oblast Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
At least 25 people, including five children, were injured in Kyiv alone, authorities said.
Photo: Ukrainian State Emergency Service via AP
Russian drones also hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, during the day yesterday when children were in the building, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
One person was killed and six were injured, but no children were physically harmed, he said.
Even so, many of the children were in shock after being rescued from the building by emergency crews, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Russia fired 405 strike and decoy drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine, mainly targeting Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said.
US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war that started with Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago have failed to gain traction.
He has repeatedly expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to budge from his conditions for a settlement after Ukraine offered a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump on Tuesday said that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin was on hold because he did not want it to be a “waste of time.”
Zelenskiy yesterday said that Trump’s proposal to freeze the conflict where it stands on the front line “was a good compromise” — a step that could pave the way for negotiations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the planned summit requires careful preparation, suggesting that laying the groundwork could be protracted.
“No one wants to waste time: neither President Trump nor President Putin,” he said. “These are the two presidents who are accustomed to working efficiently with high productivity.”
Zelenskiy urged the EU, the US and G7 nations to heap more pressure on Russia and force it to the negotiating table.
Pressure can be applied on Moscow “only through sanctions, long-range [missile] capabilities and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,” he said.
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