Russian missile attacks kill 15 in Ukraine
Russian strikes killed at least 15 people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel that Kyiv warned would help bankroll Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Three children were among those killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Saturday. At least 16 people were wounded in the attack.
Missiles also struck Kyiv in a daytime attack Saturday. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said four people were wounded. Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 60 people over the past four days.
Trump said Friday he had struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of US pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections.”Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote Saturday on X.
He said the attacks show Moscow understands “any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities,” adding that “different signals are needed.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was preparing meetings and coordinating steps to counter the extra revenue Russia will receive from the diesel deal. In a post on X, he said he had discussed the developments with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and said that Ukraine would receive ammunition in the coming days for the F-16s it uses to intercept Shahed drones.
“It is important to continue working together to protect people and limit Russia’s ability to wage this terrible war,” Zelenskyy said.
