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Russia has launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv, raising fresh doubts about the likelihood of a quick end to the war as Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump on Sunday.
“Today, Russia showed how it reacts to the peaceful negotiations between Ukraine and the United States regarding ending Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Saturday.
Russian drones and ballistic missiles pummelled Kyiv in an overnight attack that lasted until late morning. Explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital for several hours as air defences opened fire on the incoming projectiles.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 519 drones and 40 missiles. One person died and 32 were injured, while nearly a third of the capital was temporarily left without heating, city officials said.
Footage showed one drone exploding into an apartment building and another was spotted in the Kyiv region. By Saturday morning, multiple fires were raging.
During his meeting with the US president on Sunday in Florida, Zelenskyy will try to lock in the details of a 20-point peace plan developed with the US that is meant to be presented to Russia.
But on Friday Trump made clear that his endorsement of the 20-point plan was not guaranteed. Zelenskyy “doesn’t have anything until I approve it”, Trump told Politico. “We’ll see what he’s got . . . I think it’s going to go good with him. I think it’s going to go good with [Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin.”
The White House said that the presidents would meet on Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club is located.
Zelenskyy said earlier this week that a draft of the plan as well as other related documents “largely reflect the joint Ukrainian-American position”, but acknowledged there were sticking points relating to possible concessions, security guarantees and elections.
On Saturday he said he was hoping to discuss “a plan of sequential actions” with Trump: “We want to propose, step by step, how to make all the plans I have already mentioned actually work.”
The Ukrainian leader will first land in Halifax, Canada, to meet with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and hold an online meeting with European leaders.
Answering questions from reporters on WhatsApp, Zelenskyy said that “red lines” for Kyiv include recognition of Russian territorial seizures and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede swaths of the Donetsk region known as Donbas, something that was included in a 28-point US peace proposal revealed in November.
Zelenskyy said this week that Ukraine could withdraw “heavy forces” from the part of Donbas it controls if Russian troops also pulled back, but rejected handing territory to Moscow.
Russia’s regular long-range attacks make organising elections or a referendum on the peace plan impossible, Zelenskyy said.
“Because this happens daily, because Russia attacks us every day — the sky must be safe, and security ensured throughout our territory, at least for the duration of the elections or a referendum,” he told reporters.
The Ukrainian president insisted ironclad security guarantees from the West remain Ukraine’s “most important consideration”, but whether it receives them “depends primarily on President Trump”.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Russia’s overnight attack.
The meeting “is about minimising the risks, not expecting a breakthrough”, said Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s foreign affairs committee and a lawmaker from Zelenskyy’s party. “The next step is to give this peace plan to Putin, and predictably he’ll reject it . . . How Trump will react to Putin’s rejection is the most important question.”
Trump told Politico that he would speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want”.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in New York
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