Russia hits Ukraine with 500 drones, 40 missiles overnight
Russia attacked the Ukraine with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday. Dozens of people were injured and one was reportedly killed.
“The primary target is Kyiv – energy facilities and civilian infrastructure. Regrettably, there have been hits, and ordinary residential buildings have been damaged,” Zelenskyy said in an update posted on X.
One person was trapped under the rubble of one of these buildings, and electricity and heat were unavailable in some districts as of Saturday morning.
“There have been many questions over the past few days — so where is Russia’s response to the proposals to end the war offered by the United States and the world? Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals and ‘shaheds’ speak for them,” Zelenskyy said. “This is the true attitude of Putin and his inner circle. They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world.”
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on Telegram that one person died, and 30 Kyiv residents, two of them children, were injured. More than 10 residential buildings were damaged, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
Russia struck multiple energy facilities, according to state grid operator Ukrenergo, while emegency power cuts were implemented in Kyiv. About 600,000 households in and around Ukraine’s capital lost power, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Reuters reported that Rzeszow and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland were temporarily closed and later reopened.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed it carried out a “massive strike” with “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and drones. Despite the residential buildings that were struck, Russia claimed it targeted energy infrastructure facilities used by the Ukrainian military.
This, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, was in response to Ukraine’s assault on “civilian objects.” According to The Associated Press, the ministry said air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones over Krasnodar and Adygeya, and then later shot down 147 more drones in other Russian regions.
Trump to meet with Zelenskyy
These attacks come a day before Zelenskyy is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempt to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Before that, he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday.
On Friday, Zelenskyy told journalists that a 20-point draft document to secure a peace deal is 90% complete. He was quoted by Reuters as saying that the shape of U.S. security guarantees is crucial, and that these would depend on Trump and “what he is ready to give, when he is ready to give it, and for how long.”
“The main aspects and directions are our national goals, life expectancy, the return of refugees, GDP per capita, new jobs, security guarantees, and then the direction of access to markets, and accession to the European Union,” he said on X Saturday. “We have goals and strategies for macroeconomic stability.”
In an interview with Politico on Friday, Trump said of the 20-point plan that Zelenskyy “doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” adding “we’ll see what he’s got.”
He still indicated that the meeting could be productive, telling Politico that “I think it’s going to go good” with Zelenskyy.
“I think it’s going to go good with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said. He also said he expects to speak to Putin “soon, as much as I want.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
