Russia launched multiple drone and missile strikes on Ukraine as the latest peace attempts by US President Donald Trump appeared to be floundering.
The attack killed at least two civilians in Kyiv and injured dozens across the country in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Air Defense and local authorities. Targets included residential areas and energy infrastructure in the capital, the central Poltava region as well as Zaporizhzhia in the south. The port city of Izmail on the Danube was also hit, officials said on Telegram.
Ahead of winter, Moscow has been stepping up strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out more than half of its gas production that is essential for heating.
Chernihiv in the north and Sumy in the northeast have been left without water and power supply for several days as a result of the increased Russian attacks.
Ukraine’s energy ministry estimates that October has become one of the hardest months in terms of severity of the attacks on the country’s grid, transportation networks and gas production facilities since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, now well into its fourth year.
The latest strikes came as a planned second summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was thrown into jeopardy. The US leader said Tuesday he didn’t want to have “a wasted meeting” with his Russian counterpart, which had been planned within weeks in Budapest. Trump said he hadn’t made a determination to scrap the meeting, but reiterated his desire — rejected by the Kremlin — to see current battlefield lines frozen as part of a ceasefire agreement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be in Stockholm on Wednesday as he seeks military aid, including air defenses. European Union leaders will then discuss additional sanctions targeting the Kremlin as well as financial aid to Ukraine through the use of frozen Russian central bank assets at their summit in Brussels on Thursday. Ukraine’s allies from the so-called Coalition of the Willing are due to convene on Friday.
European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Putin’s renewed demands to the US for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. A peace board chaired by Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said late Tuesday that the country’s Air Force together with other units struck a chemical plant in Russian Bryansk, around 100 km (62 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles were used, the General Staff said in a post on X.
