Russian attacks kill one, injure dozens in Ukraine ahead of Trump-Zelenskyy meeting

Russia attacked the capital of Ukraine with missiles and drones early Saturday, killing one person and wounding 27 others, a day before talks between Ukraine and the United States, local authorities said.

Explosions rumbled across Kyiv for hours as ballistic missiles and drones hit the city. The attack began in the early hours of Saturday morning and continued until dawn.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it carried out a “massive strike” overnight, using “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and drones, against energy infrastructure facilities “used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine” as well as “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.”

The ministry said the attack came in response to Ukrainian attacks on “civilian objects” in Russia.

Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said its air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones over Russia’s Krasnodar and Adygeya regions overnight.

Poland sent fighter jets and closed airports in Lublin and Rzeszow, near the Ukrainian border, for several hours during the Russian attacks, the command of the country’s armed forces in X said. There was no violation of Polish airspace, it said. Civil aviation authority Pansa said the two airports had since resumed operations. It was unclear what caused the alert in Poland when the Russian attacks focused on kyiv, which is far from the border.

Russia attacked Ukraine with almost 500 drones and 40 missiles of various types, Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. The main target was energy and civil infrastructure in Kyiv, he said. In some districts of the region there is no electricity or heating due to the attacks, he added.

The attack occurred when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet with the president of the United States, Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to continue talks in an effort to end the nearly four-year war.

“There have been many questions these days. Where is the Russian response to the proposals of the United States and the world to end the war?” Zelensky said. “Russian representatives have long conversations; in reality, the ‘Kinzal’ and the ‘Shaheds’ speak for them.”

“His scream is still in my ears”

More than 10 residential buildings were damaged in the attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram. People were being evacuated from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Olena Karpenko, 52, heard a man burned to death in the attack. “Her scream is still in my ears. I can’t believe it,” she said, crying.

Karpenko said they heard a sudden explosion at the nearby thermal power plant, followed by a louder explosion that shook the windows of their home. Then came the attack on his building.

“I saw the apartment burning, there was a fire and we heard the screams of a man asking for help,” he said.

Two children were among those injured in the attack, which affected seven locations in the capital, the head of the kyiv Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said in a statement on Telegram. A body was found under the rubble of a damaged building, he said.

“In fact, the entire center of kyiv was attacked by drones,” he said, adding that Russia was sending a message that it “is increasing the risks in this war.”

A fire broke out in an 18-story residential building in the city’s Dnipro district and emergency crews rushed to the scene to contain the flames. A 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district was also hit, Tkachenko said, and more fires broke out in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.

In the kyiv region, the attacks hit industrial and residential buildings, according to the Ukrainian Emergency Service. In the Vyshhorod area, emergency teams rescued a person from under the rubble of a destroyed house.

Zelenskyy travels to meet Trump

Zelenskyy told reporters on a messaging app that he will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and “speak online with European leaders” during a stop in Canada en route to the United States, according to News.

Zelenskyy also said his goal would be to ensure there were “as few unresolved issues as possible” during his talks with Trump, while respecting Ukraine’s own red lines.

“I’m sure there are compromise proposals – we know the Americans – and obviously our enemy also always has its own objectives, which we know well,” he said.

Zelenskyy said he would prioritize the discussion on security guarantees for Ukraine. The United States has committed to providing guarantees that reflect Article 5 of the NATO alliance, meaning that an attack on Ukraine would trigger a collective military response from the United States and its allies. But key details need to be worked out.

Territorial concessions are the most sensitive issues the two leaders will discuss, including the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never recognize any territory as Russian “under any circumstances.”

“But the most important issue I want to highlight today is security guarantees. Beyond territorial issues and the ZNPP (nuclear plant), security guarantees are of vital importance for us,” he stated.