Major Russian attack on Ukraine before talks with US
Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 missiles into Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as U.S. and Ukrainian envoys prepared to hold more talks in Geneva on ending the war, which is in its fifth year.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday that the nightly bombardment, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted critical infrastructure and residential areas in eight regions of Ukraine.
Authorities said dozens of people, including children, were injured, but officials did not immediately release confirmed totals.
Zelenskiy said he spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump late Wednesday and thanked him for his “efforts and participation” in resuming peace talks.
US-brokered talks between Moscow and Kiev continue but have reached an impasse over the future of Ukrainian territory, which Russia claims as its own.
Trump representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who also discussed nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva before moving on to the war in Europe, were to meet with Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Chairman Rustem Umerov.
They also attended Trump’s meeting with Zelenskiy.
Washington aims to maintain momentum in its year-long efforts to stop the war and overcome the deep hostility between the warring countries.
Ukrainian and European officials have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of feigning interest in peace talks, hoping to avoid punitive US measures such as additional sanctions while advancing the occupation.
According to Zelenskiy, in the talks between American and Ukrainian envoys on Thursday, details of the possible post-war recovery plan for Ukraine would be discussed and preparations for the trilateral meeting with Moscow officials, likely to be held next week, would be discussed.
He said he also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange.
Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in previous talks with Ukraine, said on Thursday that Russia returned the bodies of 1,000 fallen soldiers to Ukraine and received 35 bodies of its fallen soldiers.
He did not say when the change occurred.
Zelenskiy said Russia hit gas infrastructure in the Poltava region and electricity substations in the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Emergency teams responded to the capital as well as five other regions.
Stating that Ukrainian air defenses shot down most of the Russian missiles, Zelenskiy thanked Western partners for the timely delivery of additional air defense missiles.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on allied countries to provide more military aid.
“When the whole world wants Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, Putin is betting on more terror, attacks and aggression,” Sybiha said in a post on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. he said.
