Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine kills one, wounds 15

At slightest 1 idiosyncratic has been killed and 18 others wounded successful a Russian drone and rocket onslaught connected Ukraine, officials said, arsenic Moscow launched its largest onslaught connected its neighbour successful weeks amid an ongoing diplomatic propulsion for a ceasefire.

Russian forces launched 574 drones and 40 missiles overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said connected Thursday, adding that its aerial defence units had downed astir of the attacks. But a fig of the attacks struck targets successful respective locations crossed Ukraine, resulting successful casualties and harm to buildings.

In the occidental metropolis of Lviv, astir 70km (43 miles) from the borderline with Poland, a drone and rocket onslaught killed 1 person, injured 3 and damaged 26 residential buildings, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said.

In Mukachevo, adjacent the borderline with Hungary and Slovakia, 15 radical were wounded successful Russian attacks, section authorities said.

The onslaught besides destroyed retention facilities astatine a US electronics shaper successful the town, the Reuters quality bureau reported. Television footage showed the gathering astatine the plant, which determination Governor Myroslav Biletskyi said produced user electronics, engulfed successful smoke, the bureau reported.

In a station connected X, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said the works was a “fully civilian installation that has thing to bash with defence oregon the military”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, saying it was carried retired “as if thing were changing astatine all”.

Moscow has shown nary signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to extremity the war, helium said, urging the planetary assemblage to respond with stronger unit connected Russia, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.

Russia “wasted respective cruise missiles against an American business,” helium said, noting that it was a regular civilian endeavor producing home utilities, specified arsenic java machines. “And that excessively became a people for Russia. Very telling.”

Russian drones and missiles besides deed the northwestern metropolis of Lutsk, Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said, but determination were nary reported casualties, according to the AFP quality agency.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that it had destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones astatine assorted locations. It did not accidental whether the attacks had caused immoderate casualties oregon damage.

Poland’s subject said connected Thursday that it had scrambled craft to support its airspace successful effect to the Russian battle connected its neighbour.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said the deluge of drones and missiles was “a motion that Russia is not funny … successful this effort to astatine slightest statesman meaningful talks towards ending the war”.

Push for ceasefire

The latest speech of occurrence betwixt Moscow and Kyiv follows a renewed diplomatic propulsion to extremity the war.

On Friday, United States President Donald Trump hosted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, astatine a acme successful Alaska successful a bid to onslaught a ceasefire deal, but nary statement was reached.

He past held a gathering connected Monday astatine the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and cardinal European leaders connected the situation, assuring Ukraine that Washington would supply it with “very bully protection” if a woody is reached to extremity the war.

But the gathering near galore issues unresolved, with a Ukrainian subject expert saying helium was sceptical astir the outcome.

“No determination has been made from the viewpoint of information guarantees [for Ukraine], the proviso of arms and [the deployment of Western] troops,” Ihor Romanenko, the erstwhile lawman caput of Ukraine’s army, told Al Jazeera.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would clasp intensive meetings to recognize the benignant of information guarantees its allies are consenting to provide.

The details are being hammered retired among nationalist information advisers and subject officials successful the coming days. Zelenskyy past expects to beryllium acceptable to clasp nonstop talks with Putin for the archetypal clip since Russia’s full-scale penetration of Ukraine.

The talks could besides beryllium conducted successful a trilateral format alongside Trump, Zelenskyy said.

“We privation to person an knowing of the information guarantees architecture wrong 7 to 10 days. And based connected that understanding, we purpose to clasp a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Zelenskyy told reporters connected Wednesday aft his travel to Washington, DC.

“President Trump suggested a somewhat antithetic logic: a trilateral gathering done a bilateral one,” Zelenskyy said. “But past we each agreed that, successful immoderate case, we proceed moving connected the information guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, akin to Article 5. And what we person contiguous is governmental enactment for this.”

Article 5 is NATO’s communal defence warrant nether which an onslaught connected 1 subordinate is considered an onslaught connected them all.

Al Jazeera’s Stratford said that since Trump’s meetings, determination had been nary disposable advancement connected arranging a bilateral gathering betwixt the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, and “certainly not successful narration to the benignant of clip framework that … Trump acceptable during that gathering successful Washington”.

“[Trump] was talking astir wanting a gathering successful a mates of weeks,” said Stratford, adding that the US person had said helium had spoken to Putin astir gathering with Zelenskyy and that helium “was perchance unfastened to it”.

A venue for the gathering betwixt the Ukrainian and Russian leaders is being discussed, with Switzerland, Austria and Turkiye arsenic possibilities, Zelenskyy added. He said that Hungary, which has offered to big talks, would beryllium a “challenging” location.

On Thursday, Hungary reiterated an connection to big bid talks betwixt Moscow and Kyiv.

“If we are needed, we are acceptable to supply appropriately just and harmless conditions for specified bid negotiations,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said successful a podcast broadcast connected Facebook.

In an interrogation with Fox News connected Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance said that European countries would person to shoulder the “lion’s share” of guaranteeing Ukraine’s information successful the lawsuit of a woody to extremity the war, and that the US should not person to “carry the burden”.

Meanwhile, Russia warned that efforts to resoluteness Ukraine’s information issues without Russian engagement were a “road to nowhere”.