Deadly Russian bombardment of Ukraine further dampens hopes for peace

Russia struck Ukraine with a thunderous aerial bombardment overnight, further dampening hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia.

The barrage was one of the fiercest of the three-year war, lasting several hours, striking six Ukrainian territories, and killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, Ukrainian officials said Friday. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv.

The attack came after U.S. President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine’s attack Sunday on Russian military airfields. It was also hours after Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump’s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.

Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

“Russia doesn`t change its stripes,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The war has continued unabated even as a U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting.

Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn’t budged from its demands.

“The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia’s repeated refusal to offer any concessions,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Thursday.

Further peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are expected in coming weeks, as is another exchange of prisoners of war.

Homes are struck

The attack involved 407 Russian drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones.

The Kyiv emergency workers were killed while responding to the strikes. “They were working under fire to help people,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it aimed at Ukrainian military targets with “long-range precision weapons” and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets.

But fitting a pattern for Russian attacks throughout the war, Friday’s bombardment also struck apartment buildings and other non-military targets, Associated Press reporters observed.

In Kyiv, explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter.

Vitalina Vasylchenko, a 14-year-old Kyiv resident, sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges.

“I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand,” she said. “Then there was a very loud explosion. My whole life flashed before my eyes — I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack. … I’m shocked that I’m alive.”

In Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story apartment building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the burning unit. The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv’s eastern bank were without power, city officials said.

Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies.

Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, the northern Chernihiv region, and the central Poltava region, where at least three people were injured.

Russia also reports drone attacks

In Russia, air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. As a precaution, flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended overnight Thursday into Friday and then again late Friday afternoon.

Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea.

Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine