Russian strikes: Children among dead in Ukraine hours after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin summit cancelled
At least seven people, including two children, were killed in Russia’s drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, officials said.
A kindergarten was hit in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and major damage was caused in Kiev. There were children among the 27 people injured, 48 of whom were rescued.
The attack came hours after US President Donald Trump said that the summit he planned to hold with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest was shelved because he did not want a “wasted meeting”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks proved Moscow was not under enough pressure over its war. The Kremlin has rejected calls from both Mr Trump and European leaders for a ceasefire on existing front lines.
However, Russian officials insisted that preparations for the Trump-Putin summit were continuing and disputed the US President’s claim that the summit was paused.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that no date has been agreed upon yet and careful preparation is needed. A summit remained “the mutual desire of both presidents,” he said, dismissing “gossip and rumours” surrounding it.
Speaking in Oslo at the start of his European tour, Mr. Zelensky said Mr. Trump’s proposal to freeze the front line was “a good compromise, but I’m not sure Putin will support it, and I told the President that.”
The Ukrainian leader attributed the postponement of the Trump-Putin meeting to the request for long-range US Tomahawk missiles. “Once the issue of long-range missiles became a little distant for us, that is, for Ukraine, Russia almost automatically became less interested in diplomacy,” he said.
Mr. Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed a letter of intent on Wednesday under which Sweden will supply 100 to 150 Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine. Kristersson said the first jets could be delivered “within three years” as part of a 10-15 year plan.
The latest bombardment came shortly after Ukraine said it had hit a Russian chemical plant in the Bryansk region with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Military officials described it as a “successful strike” that penetrated Russian air defenses.
They said the Bryansk plant produced “gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in munitions and missiles used by the enemy to bomb Ukrainian territory.”
The night attacks on Kiev were the first in almost two weeks. While a couple in their 60s lost their lives when a drone crashed into their high-rise building, four people from the surrounding areas also lost their lives.
A woman, a six-month-old baby and a 12-year-old girl died when their homes were set on fire during a strike in Pohreby, north of the capital. A man in a nearby village later died from his injuries.
A 40-year-old man died and seven people were injured in a drone attack on a kindergarten in Kharkiv. Local officials said children were among the six people injured. 48 people were evacuated from the building.
Ukrainian air force reported that Russia launched 405 unmanned aerial vehicles and 28 missiles, including 15 ballistic missiles, during the night. Kyiv was subject to ballistic missile warnings throughout the night as explosions echoed throughout the city. As energy infrastructure was targeted again, rescue teams battled fires throughout the morning, triggering power outages in many regions.
