Vladimir Putin responded to Donald Trump’s peace proposals by launching a massive attack on Ukraine’s capital overnight, killing at least 15 people, including at least four children.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the gulf between Trump’s stated desire for a quick peace and Putin’s war philosophy, showing the reality for Ukrainian civilians is bodies and destruction.
Explosions lit up the Kyiv night sky during a 9-hour assault, as Russia carried out its first significant attack on Kyiv since Putin met with Trump in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table, it chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war,” Zelensky said on X.
“These Russian missiles and attack drones today are a clear response to everyone in the world who, for weeks and months, has been calling for a ceasefire and for real diplomacy,” he added, condemning the assault as a ”horrific and deliberate killing of civilians.”
As is often the case in Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, residential buildings and offices were the primary targets, with dozens of civilians reported injured and trapped under debris after a 5-storey apartment block partially collapsed after being struck by a drone.
But in a further act of provocation, Putin’s forces also targeted a government building used as the headquarters of the European Union’s delegation to Ukraine, which the country’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha condemned as a war crime and a violation of international law.
“During the night strike, Russia also targeted diplomats in direct breach of the Vienna Convention. The EU mission to Ukraine was damaged,” Sybiha posted on X.
“This requires not only the EU, but worldwide condemnation. We express solidarity with our EU colleagues and are ready to provide assistance,” he added.
“Whatever Putin said in Alaska, his real actions reject diplomacy, dialogue, and peace efforts.”
At least 38 people have been injured in the strikes so far, with the death toll expected to rise throughout the day. Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko has declared a day of mourning for those killed in the attack.
“In Darnytsky district, a five-storey building has been destroyed. Rescuers are looking for people under the rubble,” said Klitschko. “A shopping centre has been hit in the city centre. Residential buildings are damaged next to it.”
During their meeting in Alaska this month, Trump bragged that Putin “wanted to make a deal for me,” even going as far as to abruptly pause a high-stakes summit of European leaders midway through a meeting to have a private phone call with his Russian counterpart.
Putin, meanwhile, appears nonplussed by his meeting with Trump, claiming a propaganda victory by meeting on equal footing with the president while refusing to cede any ground, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.
Next week, the Russian president will travel to Beijing to attend a military parade and meet with both Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Although China has publicly stayed neutral on matters relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Xi has previously pledged an “unwavering friendship” with Putin and said his country will stand with Moscow against the“unilateralism and hegemonic bullying” of the West.
Kim Jong-Un has also significantly strengthened ties with Russia, providing them with a steady supply of weapons and ammunition throughout the course of the conflict, and even deployed North Korean troops to the frontlines during Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk last year.
During a meeting with South Korea’s president on Monday, Trump bragged about his “great relationship” with Kim Jong Un, and said the two spent “a lot of free time with him talking about things that we probably aren’t supposed to talk about.”
