KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks, officials reported Thursday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was “hesitant” about a new round of U.S.-brokered talks on ending the fighting.
Washington has proposed new negotiations next week between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, either in Miami or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which was the site of the last meeting, Zelensky said late on Wednesday.
Ukraine “immediately confirmed” that it would participate, he said. “So far, as I understand it, Russia is hesitant,” Zelensky told reporters in an interview with the messaging app late Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that a new round of talks was expected “soon,” but gave no further details.
US officials have not commented on the possibility of further talks as part of a year-long peace effort by the Trump administration. Zelenskyy said last week that the United States had given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement.
But with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor marking its fourth anniversary later this month, disagreements between Moscow and Kiev on key issues have kept a comprehensive agreement in place. The issues include who keeps Ukrainian land that the Russian military has so far occupied, particularly in the industrial heartland of eastern Donbas, and Moscow’s demands that Kiev surrender more territory.
Ukraine wants Western-backed security guarantees, including a date for joining the European Union and a post-war reconstruction package in place before it can consider signing a proposed 20-point deal, Zelenskyy said.
Russia strikes civilian areas
Meanwhile, Russia continued to strike Ukrainian civilian areas, including residential areas and the power grid, and Moscow did not respond to a U.S. proposal for an “energy cease-fire” that would also halt Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, Zelenskyy said.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Russia to stop hitting electrical infrastructure, reminding Moscow in a statement that targeting civilian infrastructure is prohibited by international humanitarian law.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, Russia fired 219 long-range drones, 24 ballistic missiles and an anti-aircraft missile into Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.
The main targets were Ukraine’s capital Kiev, its second-largest city Kharkiv, Dnipro in central Ukraine and the southern port city of Odesa, the air force said – all cities that were bombed relentlessly.
In Dnipro, Russian strikes injured four people, including a 4-year-old girl and a newborn boy, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha wrote on Telegram.
In Kyiv, several residential buildings were damaged and two people were injured, according to the city administration.
In Odesa, one person was injured, while a residential block was partially destroyed and a market and a supermarket caught fire, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha wrote on Telegram.
Temperatures have moved above freezing in Kiev, but it’s still bitterly cold in the city.
Oleksii Kuleba, deputy prime minister for the restoration of Ukraine, said 2,600 buildings were left without heating after the attack in Kiev, in addition to 1,100 buildings in the capital that were already without heating due to previous attacks.
In Odesa, nearly 300,000 residents were left without running water, Kuleba said, while in Dnipro the central heating system stopped working for about 10,000 people.
Ukrainian drone flies farthest ever
Ukraine has attacked Russia with long-range strikes on military targets and the oil refineries that generate much of Russia’s revenue.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Thursday that one of its domestically developed long-range drones struck the Ukhta oil refinery in Russia’s Komi region, about 1,750 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
An official of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, told The Associated Press that it was the first time Ukrainian drones had flown so far. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Ukraine’s General Staff also said one of its domestically produced long-range Flamingo missiles struck one of the Russian military’s largest storage sites for missiles, ammunition and explosives in the Volgograd region and caused major explosions.
Separately, Ukrainian forces struck and started a fire at the Michurinsk Progress Plant in Russia’s Tambov region, a defense enterprise that produces high-tech equipment for aviation and missile systems, the General Staff said.
The Ukrainian military also confirmed it had damaged the Volgograd oil refinery in a strike the previous day.
In other developments:
First lady Melania Trump has helped reunite a small group of Russian and Ukrainian children with their families after they were separated by the invasion, the White House announced Thursday.
Five children — four boys and a girl, ages 4 to 15 — have been reunited with their families in Ukraine, while one child has returned to his family in Russia, according to Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin’s commissioner for children’s rights.
Lvova-Belova is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court for allegedly deporting children from Ukraine.
It was the third such family reunion involving the first lady.
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Katie Marie Davies from Manchester, England contributed.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine