Russian assaults on main Ukrainian cities have killed no less than 12 folks as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Washington, DC, supported by European leaders, for high-stakes peace talks with United States President Donald Trump that would decide Ukraine’s future and its destiny within the struggle, now in its fourth yr.
A complete household, together with a toddler and a 16-year-old, had been amongst seven folks killed in an in a single day drone strike on a residential neighbourhood within the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv, authorities mentioned on Monday. The assault additionally injured 20 folks, together with six youngsters.
Russian forces killed 5 folks and injured 4 in assaults in jap Ukraine’s Donetsk area, the place a few of the fiercest preventing on the bottom rages on and the place Russian President Vladimir Putin, feeling Moscow has the higher hand, seeks Ukraine’s withdrawal from the third of the area Kyiv nonetheless controls.
In Zaporizhzhia, a metropolis within the southeast, 17 folks had been injured in an assault, in response to Governor Ivan Fedorov. Russian air raids additionally focused the northeastern area of Sumy and the southern area of Odesa.
Ukraine’s air power mentioned Russian forces launched 140 drones and 4 missiles at Ukraine in a single day, including that 88 drones had been downed.
Russia has been intensifying its struggle in Ukraine. Based on the United Nations monitoring mission on Ukraine, about 2,600 drone assaults had been recorded prior to now month, the very best price for the reason that starting of the struggle, and greater than 300 civilians had been killed.
In the meantime, Ukraine’s army mentioned on Monday that its drones had struck an oil-pumping station within the Tambov area, a strike 1,923km (1,195 miles) from Ukraine, resulting in the suspension of provides through the Druzhba pipeline.
“Because of the strike, a fireplace broke out on the facility. Oil pumping via the Druzhba fundamental oil pipeline was utterly stopped,” the Ukrainian army’s Basic Workers mentioned in an announcement.
In Russia’s border area of Belgorod, 4 folks had been injured in a Ukrainian drone assault whereas Russian officers reported taking pictures down lots of of drones and munitions.
Negotiating an finish to the struggle
Zelenskyy referred to as the newest assaults on Ukraine “demonstrative and cynical”. “Putin will commit demonstrative killings to keep up strain on Ukraine and Europe, in addition to to humiliate diplomatic efforts,” he wrote on X.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Kyiv, mentioned Zelenskyy noticed the killing of civilians as a method geared toward giving Trump extra bargaining chips with which to strain Ukraine into accepting an unfavourable peace deal.
“This exhibits how a lot strain Zelenskyy is beneath as he goes into … probably essentially the most important diplomatic effort to finish this struggle,” Stratford mentioned.
Zelenskyy on Monday was anticipated to fulfill Trump for talks on the White Home alongside a cadre of heavyweight European leaders, together with European Fee President, Ursula von der Leyen. On the desk for dialogue are doable land concessions in addition to NATO-like safety ensures that Ukraine requires for any peace take care of Russia.
Thus far, Zelenskyy has refused to consider the potential of ceding Ukrainian territory to result in peace. It’s also forbidden beneath the Ukrainian Structure,
The assembly comes on the heels of a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that ended with no clear breakthrough on the struggle in Ukraine.
Army analyst Sean Bell mentioned he had little hope {that a} peace deal would come out of the talks in Washington, DC, both. “The tough actuality is that until Putin has achieved his aims, he’s received no urge for food for negotiations,” Bell informed Al Jazeera.
“If President Zelenskyy is doing all of the giving, that’s in impact a give up. Zelenskyy can’t try this,” he continued. On the similar time, Bell mentioned he didn’t anticipate Russia to simply accept a deal that entails NATO-like safety ensures for Ukraine.
Bell mentioned a “catalyst” was wanted to carry the struggle to a detailed, the simplest of which he believed to be Trump’s stiff tariffs on patrons of Russian oil and gasoline, like India. The US president threatened to enact these secondary sanctions however has to this point shunned placing new strain on Russia’s fossil gas export revenues.
“The truth that Trump has averted doing which means the killing goes to proceed,” Bell mentioned.
Energy and security in numbers look like components within the group go to by European leaders with recollections nonetheless contemporary in regards to the hostile reception Zelenskyy acquired in February from Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in a public White Home dressing-down. They castigated the Ukrainian chief as being ungrateful and “disrespectful”.
