Russia attacks Ukraine amid talks on U.S. peace plan : NPR

Firefighters extinguished the fire after a drone struck a multi-story residential building during an overnight Russian drone attack in kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

Efrem Lukatski/AP

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Efrem Lukatski/AP

kyiv, Ukraine — Russia launched a wave of attacks on the Ukrainian capital kyiv overnight, killing at least seven people in strikes that hit buildings and energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia has killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.

The attacks came as part of a new U.S. campaign to end the nearly four-year-old war and talks of a U.S. peace plan. U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials for several hours on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Driscoll, who joined the U.S. negotiating team less than two weeks ago, is leading the final phase of negotiations over the terms of a possible peace deal with Russia.

The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, declined to provide details on the length of the negotiations or the topics discussed, but noted that the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting and that all sides indicated they wanted to reach an agreement to end the fighting as quickly as possible.

Oleksandr Bevz, one of the Ukrainian delegates to Sunday’s U.S.-Ukraine talks in Geneva, said the number of points in the proposed settlement had been reduced, but he denied reports that the 28-point U.S. peace plan now included 19 points.

Local residents react as they watch their homes burn after a drone hit a multi-story residential building during the nighttime Russian drone attack in kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

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“(The document) will continue to change. We can confirm that it has been trimmed to remove points not related to Ukraine, to exclude duplicates and for editing purposes,” Bevz told The Associated Press, adding that some points relating only to Russia-U.S. relations have been excluded.

A long road to peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday evening that “the list of necessary measures to end the war can become feasible,” after progress was made in Sunday’s talks. He said he planned to discuss outstanding “sensitive” issues with US President Donald Trump.

Rustem Umerov, Zelensky’s senior adviser, posted on X on Tuesday that Zelensky hoped to finalize a deal with Trump “no earlier than November.”

Russian officials were reserved in their comments on the peace plan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow was in contact with U.S. officials about peace efforts.

“We expect them to provide us with a version that they consider provisional to complete the coordination phase of this text with the Europeans and the Ukrainians,” declared Mr. Lavrov.

European leaders have warned that the road to peace will be long.

“It’s raining glass”

Russia fired 22 missiles of different types and more than 460 drones at Ukraine overnight, Zelensky wrote on Telegram. The strikes have cut off water, electricity and heating in parts of Kyiv. Footage showed a large fire spreading through a nine-story residential building in the Dniprovskyi district, east of kyiv.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said 20 people were injured in Kyiv. The Russian Defense Ministry said it targeted military-industrial installations and energy assets. The strikes were a response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian objects in Russia, the ministry said.

Liubov Petrivna, a 90-year-old resident of a damaged building in the Dniprovskyi district, told the AP that “absolutely everything” in her apartment was broken by the strike and that “glasses rained down” on her.

Petrivna said she did not believe in the peace plan currently under discussion.

“No one will ever do anything about this,” she said. Russian President Vladimir Putin “won’t stop until he’s done with us.”

In a subsequent wave of attacks, four people were killed and three others injured in a strike on a non-residential building in the Sviatoshynyi district, west of Kyiv, according to the head of the Kyiv city administration, Tymur Tkachenko.

Neighboring countries Romania and Moldova reported a handful of drones violating their airspace, with one each landing on their territory.

Energy sites hit

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said energy infrastructure had been hit, without giving details. Ukrainian emergency services said six people, including two children, were injured in a Russian attack on energy and port infrastructure in the Odessa region.

A Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s southern Rostov region killed three people and injured eight others in the town of Taganrog, not far from the Ukrainian border, Governor Yuri Slyusar said in an online statement.

The nighttime Ukrainian drone attack on southern Russia’s Krasnodar region was “one of the longest and most massive” and injured six people, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.

A residential building is severely damaged after a Russian strike on kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

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Russian air defenses destroyed 249 Ukrainian drones overnight over various Russian regions and the occupied Crimean peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Ukraine said its drones and missiles hit an aircraft repair factory and a drone production facility, as well as an oil refinery and an oil terminal.

It is the fourth largest Ukrainian drone attack against Russia since the war began on February 24, 2022, according to an AP tally.

The plan must not be a “surrender”

Oleksandr Bevz, a Ukrainian delegate, told the AP that the Geneva negotiations had been “very constructive.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Moscow had not received the updated U.S. peace plan from that meeting.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the US plan for Ukraine “goes in the right direction” but also warned that it should not be a “capitulation” that would allow Russia to later resume hostilities.

Any peace deal must include strong security guarantees for Ukraine and, more broadly, for Europe, Macron said in an interview with RTL channel.

Macron was speaking Tuesday before a videoconference meeting of countries, led by France and the United Kingdom, that could help monitor any ceasefire with Russia.