Kyiv: Russia launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine overnight, officials said Thursday, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the US-led efforts to end the three-year-old war.
The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely avoided such focused attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour.
US President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House Monday.
Trump last month questioned Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody.”
In a social media post Thursday, Trump criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not providing Ukraine with more weaponry it needs to “fight back.”
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country,” Trump said. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defence, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Trump is weighing any changes to the types of weapons the US will provide to Kyiv.
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.
European countries are discussing how they can deploy military assets to deter any postwar Russian assault on Ukraine. But the Kremlin won’t accept the deployment of any troops from NATO countries, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.
Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy to discuss peace terms, Lavrov said Thursday, but only after key issues have been worked out by senior officials in what could be a protracted negotiating process because the two sides remain far apart.
Ukrainian and European leaders have accused Putin of stalling in the peace efforts in the hopes that his bigger army, which has been making slow advances, can capture more Ukrainian land.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio planned to host a conference call Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior US official said.
It wasn’t immediately clear which countries would be on the call. The US official spoke on condition of anonymity to outline a discussion that had not been publicly announced.
Military leaders from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Finland, France, Germany and Italy met Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to work out military options, said Joseph Holstead, a spokesperson for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. His statement gave no details about what specifically was discussed at the meeting, which also included NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe.
But an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the discussions said, “Everything is being considered and nothing is being ruled out,” regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, apart from US boots on the ground.
Military chiefs and their staffs are looking at a variety of options including “how big” the security guarantee is and what happens if it is implemented with or without a ceasefire, the official said, noting that European defense chiefs acknowledged its their “responsibility to secure Europe.”
Russia launched 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country where much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s Western allies is believed to be delivered and stored. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.
Zelenskyy condemned the attack amid the push for peace, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all.”
A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, Hunder told The Associated Press.
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Hunder said. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he added
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Hunder said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.” It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a kindergarten and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Zelenskyy said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
In comments Wednesday that were embargoed until Thursday, Zelenskyy said plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week. He said he then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Trump, Zelenskyy said.
A venue for the meeting is being discussed, and Switzerland, Austria and Turkey are possibilities, Zelenskyy added.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has kept up its attacks with domestically produced long-range drones on infrastructure inside Russia that supports Moscow’s war effort. Among other targets, it has hit oil refineries, and Russian wholesale gasoline prices have reached record highs in recent days.
AP
