Russia and Ukraine trade strikes as peace talks stall
Shafaq News – Moscow / Kyiv
Russia launched a large-scale combined strike on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, damaging infrastructure in Dnipro and Pavlohrad, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.
Fires also broke out in residential areas, though no casualties were recorded. More than 100 emergency workers with 40 firefighting units were deployed to contain the damage, the Agency.
Ukraine’s military reported that it struck a facility in Russia’s Bryansk region that supplied diesel fuel to Russian forces. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 86 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions and the Black Sea, including 30 over the Black Sea, 15 over Crimea, and others over Rostov, Krasnodar, Bryansk, and Belgorod.
At the United Nations Security Council, US officials warned that the continued missile and drone attacks on Ukraine undermined Moscow’s stated willingness for peace, warning of possible additional economic measures. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told the session that Russia was choosing military escalation over ending the war.
On the prospects of direct talks, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unlikely, despite US efforts. President Donald Trump had earlier claimed to have arranged such a meeting, though Moscow later signaled it was not imminent.
French President Emmanuel Macron also cautioned that if a meeting did not take place by Trump’s stated deadline, it would indicate Moscow had once again stalled the process.
