Russia launched 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday, hours before U.S. and Ukrainian envoys held further talks in Geneva aimed at ending the five-year war.
The shelling, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted critical infrastructure and residential areas in eight regions of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. Authorities said dozens of people, including children, were injured, but authorities did not immediately release a confirmed total number of people.
Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump late Wednesday and thanked him for his “effort and participation” in pushing the peace deal forward.
U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kiev continue but remain deadlocked over territory in Ukraine, which Russia claims as its own.
Zelenskyy pushed for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it could be crucial to reaching an agreement, but the Kremlin rejected any offer beyond inviting the Ukrainian president to Moscow, which Zelenskyy rejected.
WITKOFF and Kushner attend lecture
Trump representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were also discussing a nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva before entering the war in Europe, met with Rustem Umerov, chairman of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. They also participated in Trump’s call with Zelenskyy.
The envoys will discuss economic support and recovery for Ukraine, ways to attract investment to the country and a framework for long-term cooperation, Umerov said at X.
According to Umerov, the meeting will also review preparations for the next tripartite negotiations involving Russia and consider the possibility of additional prisoner exchanges.
Washington seeks to maintain momentum for a year to stop the war and overcome deep hostilities between the warring nations.
Ukrainian and European officials have accused Putin of feigning interest in peace talks to avoid further sanctions and other punitive U.S. measures while pushing ahead with the invasion.
Ukrainians are skeptical of peace
On the streets of Kiev, people expressed skepticism about the extent to which Ukraine would make concessions in return for negotiations and a peace deal.
“Of course we want peace. We really want it,” said Vitalina Yefimenko, 55, a resident of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, expressing concern that Russia might invade again in the future.
“But even if I give up something, I think we’ll be next in the south. It’s really scary. Should I go to another country? I don’t want to do that,” she said.
Kiev resident Roman Cheremishinov, 56, said he did not trust the Trump administration’s motives. “Current U.S. policy is aimed at pursuing business interests rather than achieving peace in Ukraine,” he said.
Dariia Kuzmenko, a 33-year-old psychological consultant, said Ukraine must take courage as Russia’s economy is suffering from international sanctions resulting from the invasion.
“We must continue to apply pressure and defend our position, and politicians must not give up or be afraid,” Kuzmenko said.
Exchange of war dead between Russia and Ukraine
Russia has repatriated 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine and has also received back 35 bodies of fallen soldiers, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine, said on Thursday. He did not say when the exchange occurred.
The Ukrainian Prisoners of War Processing Coordination Center later confirmed the return, although it noted “bodies that, according to preliminary information provided by the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian defenders.”
Russia attacked gas infrastructure in the Poltava region and substations in the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Zelenskyy said. Emergency crews responded from the capital as well as five other regions.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s air defenses had shot down most of the Russian missiles and expressed gratitude to Western partners for the timely delivery of additional air defense interceptors. Ukraine needs foreign help to fight Russia’s greater power.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha called on allies to provide more military support.
“At a time when the whole world is calling on Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, President Putin is betting on more terrorism, more attacks and attacks,” he said in a post on the Foreign Ministry website.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian air defense forces shot down 17 Ukrainian drones overnight over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, as well as in several regions of Russia.
Ukraine’s homegrown long-range drones have attacked oil refineries, fuel depots and military logistics hubs inside Russia.
Russia repeats atomic bomb claim
Meanwhile, Russia continued to push claims, without providing any evidence, that European countries were plotting to provide Kiev with a nuclear bomb.
Russia’s Kremlin-controlled lower house of parliament on Thursday unanimously approved a speech calling on United Nations and European lawmakers to block the plan.
This follows a statement from Russia’s foreign intelligence service alleging that France and Britain were secretly planning to secretly transfer components for nuclear weapons or “dirty bomb” devices.
British and French officials said the claims were lies.
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