Russia strikes bombard Kyiv ahead of Trump-Zelenskyy talks in Florida

Heavy Russian bombings and explosions hit kyiv and the surrounding region early Saturday morning, killing at least two people and injuring 20 others during a weekend of high-level diplomatic talks and a renewed push for peace.

The attacks came just hours before European leaders spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid growing pressure for a peace deal that will see the Ukrainian president speak with President Donald Trump in the United States on Sunday.

The nighttime strikes killed one person and injured 20 others in kyiv, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said, adding that more than 10 residential buildings in the city were damaged.

One person was also killed in the town of Bila Tserkva, about 90 km south of kyiv, he added.

The strikes caused the temporary closure of two airports in southeastern Poland after the Polish Air Force took off fighter jets, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said on X.

Zelensky said Saturday that 500 Russian drones and 40 missiles had struck the country, demonstrating that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want to end the war.”

“If Russia turns even the Christmas and New Year period into a time of destroyed houses and burning apartments, of ruined power plants, then this unhealthy activity can only be combatted with really strong measures,” he posted on X. “The United States has this capacity. Europe has this capacity.”

The latest strikes came less than 48 hours after Zelensky signaled a peace deal was near, and just a day before talks with Trump in Florida on Sunday.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said he would also stop in Canada on his way to a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, and would also speak remotely with European leaders to “exchange details of the documents that I will discuss with the President of the United States.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be present during the online meeting, a European Commission spokesperson told NBC News.

European leaders have been largely sidelined from key negotiations between the United States, Ukraine and Russia.

They focused on how to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, with talks ongoing on security guarantees and financing. But longtime U.S. allies in Europe have struggled to balance growing pressure from Washington with their reluctance to give in to Russia’s uncompromising demands.

A Ukrainian official familiar with the planning of Sunday’s meeting between Zelensky and Trump told NBC News that in addition to security guarantees for Ukraine, Ukrainians were preparing to discuss economic prosperity and reconstruction of the war-torn country.

“For us it is very important that there is a signal that we want legally binding security guarantees,” Zelensky said in an audio message on WhatsApp on Saturday. “Above all, it depends on President Trump. The question is what security guarantees President Trump is prepared to offer to Ukraine.”

There is also talk of holding a joint news conference with Trump and Zelensky, not necessarily to announce anything new, but to discuss the results of the meeting, the Ukrainian official said.

In a WhatsApp conversation with Ukrainian journalists on Friday, Zelensky said, “The 20-point plan we are working on is 90 percent ready” and that the negotiating teams in Ukraine and the United States have made “significant progress.”

“Our task is to make sure everything is 100% ready,” he added. “With each of these meetings and each of these conversations, we need to get closer to the desired outcome.”

Trump has made high-level diplomatic efforts to end the war, but his efforts have encountered very different positions and demands from Moscow and kyiv.

Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Russia’s much smaller neighbor in February 2022, has not backed away from maximalist demands that would prevent Ukraine from integrating with the West and limit its ability to defend itself. Until Tuesday, Zelensky had said he would not be willing to withdraw his troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland, much of which is occupied by Russian forces, as part of a plan to end the war.

The Ukrainian leader has since given details of an updated peace plan offering Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east and the creation of a demilitarized zone in their place.

Trump told Politico on Friday that he expected a “good” meeting with the Ukrainian leader, although he gave no endorsement to Zelensky’s plan.

Zelensky “won’t get anything until I approve it,” he said. “Then we’ll see what he has.”