Trump: Russia and Ukraine ceasefire talks begin “quickly”
President Donald Trump said peace talks between Russia and Ukraine would begin “quickly” after a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin.
Russian forces have killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more in Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev, in the largest air attack of the war so far, officials said.
The deaths included three children in the northern region of Zhytomyr, local officials said.
Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelenki has called on the United States to speak to Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin since President Donald Trump took office.
“The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote in the telegram.
“All Russian strikes of such terrorists are reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”
Although other strikes killed more people, it was the biggest attack of the war in terms of fired weapons.
Home Minister Ihor Klymenko said 12 people were killed and 60 were injured. The previous death toll given separately by local authorities and rescuers brought the death toll to 13.
“It was a combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians. The enemy once again showed that its target was fear and death,” he wrote on Telegram.
The attack comes as Ukraine and Russia prepare to carry out the final day of the third day of the prisoner swap.
Certain fire efforts
Ukraine and its European allies are trying to drive Moscow to sign a 30-day ceasefire as the first step to negotiate the end of the Three Years’ War.
Their efforts were hit earlier this week when Trump refused to issue further sanctions on Moscow for not agreeing to an immediate suspension of combat, as Kiev had hoped.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 298 drones and 69 missiles in the overnight attack, but it was able to reduce 266 drones and 45 missiles.
Damages have spread to a series of regional centres, including Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, and Mikolife in the south and Ternopil in the west.
On Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said 11 people were injured in the drone strike. Officials say four people have died in areas around the city, but no deaths were reported in the capital.
This was the second biggest air attack in two days. On Friday evening, Russia fired dozens of drones and ballistic missiles in Kiev, a wave that lasted until the night.
In northeastern Ukraine, Mayor Ikhor Telekov said early Sunday that drones struck three urban districts and injured three people. Smash windows in blocks in high-rise apartments.
The drone strike killed a 77-year-old man and injured five people in a city in southern Maikoraf, the area governor said. He released photos of the apartment block of a residential home with a large hole with explosions and tiled rubs scattered across the ground.
According to the governor, four people have been killed and five injured in the western region of Khmelnytskyi, hundreds of kilometers from the frontline of the battle.
“Without pressure, nothing will change, Russia and its allies will only build troops for such murders in Western countries,” Andry Yamac, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, wrote in the telegram.
“Moscow will fight as long as it has the ability to produce weapons.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that its air defense units intercepted or destroyed 95 Ukrainian drones over four hours. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobianin said 12 Ukrainian drones were intercepted on their way to the capital.
