Russia bombarded Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones on Sunday that killed one individual and wounded at the least seven others, the most recent in a sequence of lethal assaults that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has mentioned makes clear Moscow has little actual curiosity in cease-fire negotiations.
Whereas Russian drone and missile assaults have been unrelenting all through greater than three years of conflict, they’ve intensified in current weeks amid ongoing peace talks led by the Trump administration.
The Ukrainian authorities mentioned the barrage on Sunday killed one man, broken buildings and began fires in three neighborhoods of Kyiv, the capital. Injury and accidents had been additionally reported elsewhere in Ukraine, because the nation declared a day of mourning for a lethal strike on Friday within the metropolis of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.
A missile strike on a residential neighborhood there killed 19 folks, together with 9 youngsters, and wounded 74 others. It broken the courtyard of an condominium block, and emergency medical employees discovered among the wounded in a playground, movies launched by Ukraine’s emergency companies confirmed. Russia’s ministry of protection mentioned the missile hit a gathering of Ukrainian and overseas army personnel.
Although he has expressed help for the Trump administration’s efforts to safe a cease-fire, Mr. Zelensky was vital of the tepid U.S. response to the assault on Kryvyi Rih, his hometown.
He mentioned he was “unpleasantly shocked” by a social media submit from the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, that expressed horror over the strike however didn’t straight condemn Russia.
And in his nightly deal with on Saturday, he mentioned that he was “grateful to each nation whose representatives have spoken out” in regards to the strike and — though he didn’t single out the US — emphasised that silence would embolden Moscow to “proceed the conflict and preserve ignoring diplomacy.”
“We should all keep in mind: the conflict continues,” Mr. Zelensky added.
Ukrainian officers have accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of taking part in for time in cease-fire negotiations mediated by the Trump administration.
Whereas Ukraine agreed final month to just accept an unconditional 30-day halt within the combating, Russia didn’t. Either side have agreed in precept to quickly halt strikes in opposition to vitality infrastructure, solely to accuse one another of violating the settlement. Kyiv and Moscow additionally dedicated to a cease-fire on the Black Sea final month in separate U.S.-mediated talks — however are nonetheless negotiating whether or not or the way it will come into pressure.
Ukrainian officers say that, because the talks proceed, Russia has shifted ways within the missile and drone conflict by growing the general variety of exploding drones and singling out sure cities for intense bombardments on some nights, relatively than scattering assaults across the nation.
The Ukrainian Air Pressure mentioned on March 30 that 4,133 drones and missiles had been fired that month, a rise from earlier months.
In Sunday’s assault, the air pressure mentioned, Russia launched a mixture of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
In Kyiv, the aerial assault started with exploding drones. Missiles then adopted, setting off air-raid alarms by the night time and early morning.
Valentyn Maidaniuk, a Kyiv resident, mentioned he noticed explosions flashing within the sky and heard buzzing from the drones’ engines as he walked to an air-raid shelter early Sunday. In the long run, he mentioned, “I didn’t handle to sleep in any respect.”
Maria Varenikova contributed reporting.
