Russia attacks Ukraine with missiles as Zelenskiy speaks to US, Europe for a peace deal

Russian forces launched missile strikes on Kyiv on Thursday, local authorities said, prompting air raid alerts and forcing residents to take shelter just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held calls with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders.

A Reuters witness reported hearing multiple explosions across the capital, while officials in the northeastern city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack. Air raid warnings were issued across most of Ukraine, as authorities warned of continued aerial threats.

“The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. Stay in safe places until the air raid alert is over,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post early Thursday.

In France, Zelenskiy said he had spoken with Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron following meetings with leaders at the Group of Seven summit. He described the exchange as a “coordinating conversation” aimed at advancing efforts to end the more than four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

The attack on Kyiv marks the second major aerial assault by Russia this week. On Monday, a centuries-old monastery considered a symbol of Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage was severely damaged in a strike that killed 10 people, drawing condemnation from European leaders.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Russia was suffering heavier military losses than Ukraine, and suggested that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy appeared open to exploring steps toward ending the conflict. The Kremlin, however, said Putin did not discuss the possibility of a direct meeting with Zelenskiy during his latest call with Trump. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine is sustaining greater losses.

In the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, where most workers at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant reside, Russia-installed Mayor Maksim Pukhov said on Telegram that Ukrainian strikes killed one person and injured four others.

Meanwhile, in Russia’s Belgorod region, local officials reported that a Ukrainian drone strike killed a man inside his car. Moscow also accused Ukraine of attacking a bus carrying Belarusian schoolchildren on Wednesday, an allegation Kyiv dismissed as false.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield claims made by either side.

Both Russia and Ukraine continue to deny deliberately targeting civilians in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. -Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova and Ron Popeski; Editing by Nia Williams and Neil Fullick/Reuters