Russia launched a wide drone and missile attack across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least six people including two children, Ukrainian officials said, with diplomatic efforts to end the war on pause after the White House said the previous day there were no imminent plans for presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet.
Ukraine’s energy minister said a “massive combined overnight attack” on the country’s energy infrastructure was still underway early Wednesday — the latest in Russia’s effort to cripple Ukraine’s energy system before winter. At least 18 people were injured in the attack, said Kyiv administration head Tymur Tkachenko.
The attack caused emergency power blackouts across the country, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said. Repairs were underway where possible and electricity would be restored “as soon as possible,” it said.
“Another night that proves Russia does not feel enough pressure for prolonging the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.
He said the strike caused damages in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Odessa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, and the wider regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy and Sumy.
Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the United States and the Group of Seven industrialized nations, or G7, to take steps to sanction Russia.
“It is very important that the world does not remain silent now and that there is a united response to Russia’s treacherous strikes,” he said.
Russia launched 405 drones and 28 missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s air force said. Ukraine downed 16 missiles and 333 drones, and other missiles directly hit targets, it added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s army said the country’s forces struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk region late on Tuesday night using air-to-surface Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex producing gun powder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition.
In the Kyiv region, rescuers discovered the bodies of three people — including two children —after a strike set a private house ablaze in the village of Pohreby, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. According to him, the victims were a woman and her two daughters — an infant of 6 months and a 12-year-old girl.
“Their bodies were found at the site of the fire,” the governor said. “This is a tragedy for the entire community, for the Kyiv region, and for the country.”
Two more people were found dead in the Dnipro district of the Ukrainian capital, where emergency services rescued 10 people after a fire caused by drone debris hit the sixth floor of a 16-storey residential building, local authorities said.
The attack also blew out windows of a medical facility and debris was found at another residential building, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on his Telegram channel.
In the Darnytskyi district of the capital, emergency services were responding after drone debris hit a 17-storey residential building causing a fire on five floors. Fifteen people had to be rescued, including two children.
Attacks target several cities
In the Desnianskyi district, 20 people were rescued after the façade of a 10-storey building was damaged and a gas pipe caught fire. Debris from a drone also fell on a dormitory building and rescue workers were headed to the scene, Klitschko said.
The large-scale overnight aerial attack also targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia and the port city of Izmail in the southern Odessa region.
An “energy object” in Odessa region suffered “extensive damages” according to DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private energy operator. The company also said Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions experience emergency blackouts.
Following the blackouts, Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that “as soon as security conditions allow, energy workers will begin assessing the consequences of the attack and carrying out repair work.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that its forces had captured the village of Pavlivka in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, as well as Ivanivka village in neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region.
The ministry also said, in a statement on Telegram, that it had struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure in what it said was a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilian targets.
Trump proposal a ‘good compromise’: Zelenskyy
On Wednesday, Trump is expected to hold talks at the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The military alliance has been co-ordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the United States by Canada and European countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House for high-stakes talks, but questions remain over whether the U.S. will supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.
Putin and Trump spoke last week and agreed to hold a summit in Hungary that the Kremlin said could take place within a couple of weeks.
The White House said Tuesday there were no plans for the respective presidents to meet “in the immediate future” and Trump said he did not want to have a wasted meeting — something the Kremlin said Wednesday it also wants to avoid.
The delay came after Russia reiterated to the U.S. its previous terms for reaching a peace deal, including that Ukraine cede control of the whole of the southeastern Donbas region, three sources told Reuters.
That amounted to a rejection of Trump’s statement last week that both sides should stop at the current front lines.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Trump’s call for Ukraine and Russia to stop at the current frontlines was “a good compromise.”
But Zelenskyy, who is visiting Nordic countries, said he doubted that Putin would stop it.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is seeking to purchase 25 Patriot air defence systems from U.S. firms using frozen Russian assets and assistance from partners. Zelenskyy said acquiring them would take time because of long production time but added that he has spoken to Trump about help procuring them more quickly, potentially from European partners.
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