Russia has battered Ukraine overnight with its largest drone attack since the war began, Ukraine’s military said Sunday, as Moscow intensified its military assault despite holding direct peace talks with Kyiv Friday.
Russia launched 273 Shahed drones in one night, the Ukrainian Air Force said, predominantly targeting the central Kyiv region.
A 28-year-old woman was killed, and three others including a four-year-old child were injured, according to Mykola Kalashnik, the governor of the Kyiv region.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the head of Ukraine’s parliament, said in a social media post Sunday: “The air raid alarm lasted almost nine hours. This is what Putin’s ‘sincere desire for peace’ looks like.”
The attack destroyed residential buildings, damaged a high-rise and set garages on fire, Stefanchuk wrote, adding: “This is terror in its purest form.”
The “massive attack” caused a number of fires, Ukraine’s emergency services also said, adding that 55 rescue workers had been deployed.
Elsewhere, Russian shelling killed one person and injured eight in the Donetsk region Saturday, according to the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin. Russian drones also targeted the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, regional military chiefs said.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have downed 75 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours, TASS, a Russian state news agency, reported Sunday, citing Russia’s defense ministry.
The latest assault comes after a Russian drone attack on a bus in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy killed at least nine people and injured seven Saturday, just hours after the two countries met for the first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The negotiations in Turkey failed to produce a major breakthrough. The two countries discussed a possible meeting between their presidents, a ceasefire and agreed a prisoner swap.
The talks capped days of back-and-forth: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called for the face-to-face meeting but did not attend himself, instead sending a junior delegation after rejecting Ukraine’s proposal of a 30-day ceasefire.
Donald Trump is set to speak with Putin Monday on ending the Ukraine war, the US president announced Saturday. Trump has previously said he doesn’t think there will be a significant breakthrough on peace talks until he speaks with Putin directly.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Saturday that preparations were underway for a phone conversation between the two leaders.