Russia launches strikes across Ukraine after Trump-Putin meeting cancelled

Russia unleashed a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least seven people and damaging critical infrastructure, the day after US President Donald Trump’s latest peace efforts appeared to unravel.

A young mother and her two small children were among the seven civilians killed, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. One person died in a drone attack on a kindergarten in Kharkiv, where several children were injured, according to Svyrydenko. About two dozen people were injured across the 10 regions targeted. 

The air strikes came after Trump cancelled a planned summit in Budapest with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want it to be a “waste of time”. The two leaders had agreed to meet during a phone call last week.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 28 ballistic and cruise missiles and 405 drones predominantly aimed at energy and railway infrastructure.

Russia’s missiles and swarms of drones damaged several energy sites, leaving communities without power, heating and water amid cold temperatures, said foreign minister Andriy Sybiha. Emergency power blackouts rippled across the country, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.

On Wednesday, Putin oversaw via video link a planned “strategic nuclear forces training exercise” involving “ground, sea and air components”, the Kremlin said. The Russian forces launched a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in north-west Russia towards a test range in Kamchatka.

Sineva, another ballistic missile, was launched from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea bordering Norway, while Tu-95MS bombers fired cruise missiles. Norway is separately joining other Nato countries in a nuclear exercise out of the Netherlands this week, involving aircraft capable of carrying atomic weapons.

While Putin has overseen similar tests in previous years, this time the exercise has drawn attention as it coincides with faltering peace efforts on Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that a “massive strike” was carried out against “energy infrastructure facilities” supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, in response to “Ukraine’s terrorist attacks” on civilian targets in Russia.

The attacks came after Ukraine’s military said it had used Franco-British Storm Shadow missiles to hit a Russian chemical plant in the Bryansk region that produces gunpowder and explosives to fuel Moscow’s war machine.

Russia has escalated its aerial assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, knocking out almost 60 per cent of the gas production capabilities needed to heat the country.

Sybiha said Ukraine urgently needed additional energy resources and funds, mobile generation units, repair equipment and air defence capabilities ahead of winter in order to prevent “a humanitarian crisis in the middle of Europe”.

The northern cities of Chernihiv and Sumy, which border Russia, have been pounded especially hard by missiles and drones, and have been without water and electricity for several days.

In a volatile White House meeting on Friday, Trump warned Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Putin had said he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree to his terms. Trump eventually came around to saying he wanted the war to be settled at the current frontline — a condition European allies had been pushing for.

Trump called off the summit after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the US push for a ceasefire along the frontline contradicted an understanding reached at Trump’s August meeting with Putin in Alaska.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday’s attack proved “that Russia does not feel enough pressure for dragging out the war”. He said his air defence forces and drone interceptor crews “were working all night and into the morning”.

Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy and Sumy regions had come under attack, the Ukraine president added.

A drone buzzed low over Kyiv before diving into a residential area on Wednesday morning. An explosion of flames and smoke rose from the site.

In Izmail, in the south, fires broke out at energy and port infrastructure sites, according to Svyrydenko. In Zaporizhzhia, residential buildings were hit overnight, leaving several people injured.

European allies on Tuesday floated a peace deal plan to ensure Trump remains onside in future negotiations with Russia. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte is set to discuss the latest efforts with Trump later on Wednesday at the White House, with Kyiv’s allies scheduled to hold a “coalition of the willing” meeting in London on Friday.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday signed a memorandum with Sweden that would pave the way for Ukraine acquiring between 100-150 Gripen fighter jets over the next few years, though it was not immediately clear who would pay for them. EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss using Russia’s frozen assets for a €140bn loan for Ukraine, which could be used to arm Kyiv with European and US weapons.