Russia Pounds Kyiv As Zelenskyy, Trump Discuss Energy Ceasefire

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Residents in Ukraine’s capital were awakened Thursday as Russia pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones, killing at least two people, including one in a parking lot beside a damaged maternity hospital, Ukrainian authorities said.

The bombardment followed talks in New York where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his U.S. counterpart, Donald J. Trump, discussed a proposed ceasefire on attacks against energy infrastructure.

Under the proposal, Ukraine would stop hitting Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities if Moscow halted strikes on Ukraine’s electricity, heating, natural gas and other energy infrastructure. Russia has not agreed to such a ceasefire.

Ukraine’s air force reported that the overnight barrage included an unspecified number of hypersonic and ballistic missiles, 282 drones and other weapons.

Besides those killed, at least eight people were injured, authorities said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that windows and part of the maternity hospital’s facade were damaged, though no casualties were initially reported inside the medical facility.

BALLISTIC MISSILE WAVES

“As people were sleeping, flashes from explosions lit up the sky,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging platform. “Once again, the main targets of their strike were Kyiv and civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure, and logistics.”

Zelenskyy, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, said Kyiv came under three waves of ballistic missiles, with Ukrainian forces intercepting about 60 percent of them over the capital.

Several explosions resounded across the city, where police reported damage to nine homes, a post office, warehouses and dozens of cars across three districts, in addition to the maternity hospital.

“Right now, the United States has the opportunity to respond strongly,” Zelenskyy stressed. “We need ballistic interceptors to protect lives.”

Russia has stepped up its air campaign against Ukraine in recent months, increasingly deploying faster, harder-to-intercept drones while taking advantage of Kyiv’s shortage of interceptors capable of destroying ballistic missiles.

ATTACKS ACROSS UKRAINE

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck Ukrainian defense facilities, logistics and telecommunications centers, as well as vessels it said were used by the Ukrainian military.

Strikes were also reported elsewhere. In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, military administration chief Serhiy Lysak reported damage to a medical facility and shattered windows in nearby homes and a school.

Thursday’s barrage came after extensive Russian drone attacks on Kyiv on Wednesday that hit railway infrastructure, warehouses and fuel stations.

Mayor Klitschko said two people were killed and dozens injured in Wednesday’s attacks. The assault continued from morning into the evening and was among the heaviest since Russia began increasingly using faster, high-flying jet-powered drones against Kyiv and surrounding areas.

A drone struck a nine-story nonresidential building, while a business center and warehouses were also hit, authorities said.

ENERGY CEASEFIRE

“Russia continues to turn civilian and critical infrastructure into targets: pharmaceutical facilities, gas stations, railways, communications infrastructure, and shopping malls,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media platform X.

Zelenskyy met Trump on Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where they discussed the proposed energy ceasefire and Ukraine’s request for additional U.S.-made Patriot air-defense missiles.

The Ukrainian leader later explained that no agreement had been reached but that Kyiv was prepared for “any format” of an energy ceasefire as long as Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Kyiv fears Russia is preparing another major campaign against the country’s power and heating systems as winter approaches. Zelenskyy has warned that Ukraine will continue striking Russian targets if Moscow refuses to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities.

The Kremlin, however, said Wednesday that conditions for future peace talks with Ukraine were still not in place.

WAR ENTERS WINTER

Following talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York, Russia’s Foreign Ministry reiterated Moscow’s commitment to achieving the objectives of what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Wednesday’s violence also extended beyond Kyiv. In eastern Ukraine, a Russian aerial bomb strike killed five people and injured six in the village of Oleksandrivka, according to Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin, who added that seven people were trapped beneath rubble.

Oleksandrivka lies near Kramatorsk, one of Ukraine’s heavily defended eastern cities that Russian forces have been seeking to capture.

Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia reported that rail infrastructure came under attack in Kyiv, injuring one worker, although the capital’s main railway station was not damaged.

The country’s oil giant Ukrnafta said one of its petrol stations in Kyiv was struck, marking the sixth company facility attacked in recent weeks. Authorities said two petrol stations were hit in Wednesday’s assault.

Thursday’s violence highlighted a rapid escalation of the air war more than four-and-a-half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, despite renewed diplomatic efforts to secure at least a limited ceasefire.