Russia launches 705 drones and 52 missiles at Ukraine overnight, targeting energy facilities. The U.S. and China will \u201cwork together\u201d on ending Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, Trump said after a meeting with Xi. Ukraine\u2019s military disproves Putin\u2019s claims of the troops being surrounded in Kupyansk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s Air Force said Russia had launched 705 drones and 52 missiles of various types toward the country overnight on Thursday, targeting critical infrastructure. The air defenses shot down or otherwise neutralized 592 drones and 31 missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A critical infrastructure site was damaged in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk. The city of Burshtyn sustained one of the largest attacks of the war so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A critical infrastructure facility and civilian sites were damaged in the central-western region of Vinnytsya. A seven-year-old girl was injured in the attack in the city of Ladyzhyn and later died in hospital of her wounds. Four more people sustained injuries. Ladyzhyn is home to a thermal power plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the western region of Lviv, two energy facilities were damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia, the strike damaged critical infrastructure facilities and residential buildings. Two people were killed and 23 others injured, including six children. Russia\u2019s missile attack on the city of Dnipro hit an industrial site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Private energy company DTEK said its several thermal power plants across the country sustained serious damage. Emergency power cuts were imposed in most of the regions, but were later cancelled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reacting to Russia\u2019s major overnight attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a post to X: \u201cIn many of our regions, emergency and rescue operations are still underway after last night\u2019s Russian attack. It was a complex, combined strike: the enemy used more than 650 drones and over fifty missiles of various types, including ballistic and aeroballistic ones. Many were shot down, but unfortunately, there have been hits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere have also been many vile strikes on energy facilities and civilian life across the regions \u2013 Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Poltava, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Sumy, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv regions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll efforts should be made to restore power and water supply as swiftly as possible wherever it\u2019s been disrupted,\u201d Zelenskyi said, adding \u201cRussia continues its terrorist war against life itself, and it\u2019s crucial that every such vile attack on civilians boomerangs back on Russia with concrete consequences \u2014 sanctions and real pressure. We count on America, Europe, and the G7 countries not to ignore this Moscow\u2019s intent to destroy everything. New steps are needed to increase pressure \u2013 on Russia\u2019s oil and gas industry, its financial system, and through secondary sanctions on those who bankroll this war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States and China will \u201cwork together\u201d on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters abord Air Force One after he departed South Korea where he met Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine was discussed at length, the president said, adding that he and Xi agreed to work together to get the war \u201cfinished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUkraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time, and we\u2019re both going to work together to see if we can get something done,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe agree the sides are, you know, locked in fighting, and sometimes you have to let him fight, I guess, crazy, but he\u2019s going to help us, and we\u2019re going to work together on Ukraine. Not a lot more we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said that he didn\u2019t broach China\u2019s continued purchases of oil from Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been buying oil from Russia for a long time. It takes care of a big part of China,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t really discuss the oil. We discussed working together to see if we could get that war finished. You know, it doesn\u2019t affect China. It doesn\u2019t affect us. And I\u2019d like to see it done on the basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn fact, we make money, and I don\u2019t even want to talk about money. I don\u2019t care about making money in that case,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut, you know, we send weapons to NATO. They buy full price … they give them, probably, to Ukraine for the most part,\u201d Trump continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to work together to try and get the war with Russia and Ukraine solved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump and Xi met in South Korea\u2019s Busan Thursday, marking the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders in Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fierce fighting is raging inside and on the outskirts of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region. Russian forces are trying to establish positions in the northern part of the city, but Ukrainian troops are not encircled there, Ukraine\u2019s Joint Forces Task Force, a grouping operating in the region of Kharkiv, said in a post to Telegram Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Claims of Kupyansk being surrounded are \u201cfabrications and fantasies,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf Russian dictator Vladimir Putin weren\u2019t a war criminal, one could regret that in his senior years he has to once again make a fool of himself by repeating a lie taken from his generals that even his loyal audience and Russian elites wouldn\u2019t buy,\u201d the message reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed Wednesday that Russian troops had surrounded Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk and Kupyansk and offered to negotiate a deal for their surrender. He suggested that the Russian military was ready to open safe corridors for Ukrainian and Western journalists to \u201clet them see with their own eyes what\u2019s going on,\u201d according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov at a meeting with Putin and Russian commanders on Sunday claimed that Russian forces had completed the encirclement of Ukrainian forces in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s defense forces destroyed a Russian flag installed on entrance to Pokrovsk, Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState said on Wednesday. The city itself is a \u201clarge gray zone,\u201d and the situation there is difficult, it added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian forces are amassing in the northern part of Kupyansk and trying to further advance in small groups, spokesperson for Ukraine\u2019s Joint Forces Task Force Major Viktor Trehubov said on national television Tuesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"