Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France.
A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places.
In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building.
Photo: Reuters
Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
The strikes caused power outages in the area, with backup systems activated to maintain water and heating supplies, the official said, as temperatures dropped to minus-8°C.
The attacks came on the eve of a meeting of European leaders in Paris as they seek a breakthrough on a peace plan Kyiv says is “90 percent” ready.
To lay the groundwork, security advisers from 15 nations, as well as representatives from NATO and the EU, gathered in Kyiv at the weekend.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff joined the talks virtually, a Ukrainian official said, although the US’ large-scale military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.
Another preparatory meeting, between chiefs of staff, was scheduled for yesterday.
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace, although both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.
Russia, which occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the nation’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal, but Kyiv has warned that ceding ground would embolden Moscow and said it would not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
Bombarded daily and losing ground, Ukraine has responded with its own drone attacks launched toward Russian territory, targeting in particular energy infrastructure that funds the war effort.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it has downed Ukrainian drones targeting the Moscow region every day of this year, and claims to have shot several hundred at the weekend.
The Kremlin published a video of a downed drone it said Ukraine had launched at the home of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novgorod region, adding that the property was not damaged and the leader was elsewhere at the time.
Kyiv refuted the allegation, and its European allies expressed skepticism. Asked about it on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that “something” had happened near Putin’s residence, but after reviewing the evidence, US officials did not believe it had been targeted by Ukraine.
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