Russia kills 4 in overnight strike on Ukraine, days after Trump issues oil sanctions
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight left four people dead and several others injured, days after President Trump issued sanctions on Russian oil companies as peace talks in the region have largely been stagnant.
In Kyiv, two people were killed and at least 13 wounded from a ballistic missile strike early Saturday, Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a post on the social media site X.
A kindergarten building was also struck in the Dnipro district, where people were injured by glass and debris, Tkachenko added.
The Dnipropetrovsk region also saw two deaths with seven people injured, and the strikes damaged apartment buildings and private homes, acting regional Gov. Vladyslav Haivanenko said.
The Russian military launched nine missiles and 62 drones, Ukraine’s air force observed. Four missiles and 50 drones were intercepted, according to officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave his condolences to the families of those who were killed and injured in the attacks. He then called on the U.S., Europe and the G7 nations to further help Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.
“It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems — to be able to protect our cities from this horror,” Zelensky said in a statement. “It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days.
“No country should be left alone in the face of such evil,” he wrote. “We must continue our cooperation. Everything is doable. Our partners have the necessary systems and they can already help defend Ukraine.”
The call for additional Patriot air defense systems comes after peace talks between the two countries, facilitated by the U.S., have stalled — and days after Zelensky announced Monday that Ukraine and the U.S. were finalizing a deal to secure more defense systems.
Germany sent two Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine earlier this year, the first shipment under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List as part of the U.S.-led deal with NATO. In total, Ukraine has received at least seven Patriot systems since the war in Eastern Europe began in February 2022.
During a visit to the White House with President Trump last week, Zelensky spoke with leaders of several American energy and military companies in hopes of garnering support in bolstering Ukraine’s power grid and arming itself against Russia.
Kyiv has not received long-range missiles from the U.S., something that Trump emphasized was not “easy” to give.
Zelensky argued Tuesday that not being given the missiles thwarted Russia’s incentive to engage in diplomacy. This came after a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was to be held in Budapest, Hungary was called off.
“The front line can spark diplomacy. Instead, Russia continues to do everything to weasel out of diplomacy, and as soon as the issue of long-range capabilities for us — for Ukraine — became less immediate, Russia’s interest in diplomacy faded almost automatically,” the Ukrainian leader said during a video address on Tuesday.
He added, “This signals that this very issue — the issue of our deep strike capabilities — may hold the indispensable key to peace.”
Trump, after an August summit with Putin in Alaska failed to move the needle closer to a ceasefire, has aired his frustration with the Kremlin’s war. The Treasury Department on Wednesday slapped two of Russia’s largest oil companies — Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Co. (Rosneft) and Lukoil OAO (Lukoil) — with sanctions.
“It’s a very big day in terms of what we’re doing,” the president said at the time. “These are tremendous sanctions. They’re big, these are against their two big oil companies and we hope they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”