Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Russian attacks on Kyiv result in three deaths


(MENAFN) At least three people were killed and 32 others injured in an overnight Russian airstrike on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that two high-rise residential buildings were hit, adding that six children were among the injured.

The attack struck the Desnianskyi district in the northwest of the capital, where a drone reportedly hit a nine-storey apartment block, killing three and wounding 24. Several other residential buildings were also damaged, with seven victims, including two children, hospitalized, city authorities said.

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that Russian air defenses had destroyed a drone approaching the capital.

The assault is part of a renewed Russian campaign targeting civilian areas and energy infrastructure as winter nears. Ukrainian officials said nearly 1,200 drones have been launched at cities across the country in the past week alone.

Russia’s full-scale invasion, launched in 2022, has left it in control of roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014. Fighting along the front lines remains largely stagnant, while Ukraine has intensified drone and missile strikes on Russian oil facilities and military production sites.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed appeals for long-range weapons from Western allies to maintain these operations. However, his recent visits to Washington and a subsequent EU summit yielded no new commitments.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump announced new sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies—the first of his current term—while the EU followed with similar measures. Trump said talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin had “gone nowhere” and that he had shelved a planned meeting in Budapest, citing lack of progress toward peace.

Speaking to reporters en route to Asia, Trump noted he still had a “great relationship” with Putin but was “disappointed” by recent developments, suggesting that any future meeting would depend on “a realistic peace path.”

The US president’s frustration has grown after a summit in Alaska in August failed to produce results. Trump had previously tied further sanctions to Europe’s promise to reduce dependence on Russian energy imports, which the EU has pledged to end by 2028.

Zelensky has reportedly accepted a US-backed proposal to freeze fighting along current front lines as a prelude to peace talks—though Moscow continues to demand that Ukrainian troops withdraw entirely from the Donbas region.

However, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who held meetings with US officials in Washington over the weekend, told news agency that he believes the sides are “reasonably close” to a diplomatic breakthrough.

“It’s a big move by President Zelensky to already acknowledge that it’s about battle lines,” Dmitriev said. “His previous position was that Russia should leave completely, so I think we are getting closer to a solution that can be worked out.”

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