An hourslong barrage of Russian missiles and drones killed at least 14 people in Ukraine’s capital, including three children, early on Thursday, officials said. The attack, which they said also injured at least 45, was the largest on Kyiv since President Trump’s summit in Alaska with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia nearly two weeks ago.
A five-story apartment building was destroyed in the Russian strikes, and other homes were damaged. A missile also hit a shopping mall in central Kyiv, the authorities said, and a building belonging to the European Union mission was damaged.
In all, officials said, Russia launched 598 drones and 31 missiles in the overnight strikes on Kyiv and other cities, and Ukrainian defenses shot down 563 drones and 26 missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that the Russian bombardment was the Kremlin’s answer to the recent diplomatic flurry aimed at halting the fighting.
“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media. “It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war. And this means that Russia still does not fear the consequences.”
The attack came 13 days after Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin met in Anchorage for a one-day summit to discuss a settlement for the war. Russia has insisted that substantive peace talks, which could cover difficult questions of Russian territorial gains and Ukrainian security guarantees, must come before a cease-fire. That would allow Russia to continue to press its advantage on the battlefield while negotiations drag on.
After the Alaska summit, Mr. Trump reversed his demand for an early cease-fire, at Mr. Putin’s insistence. The fighting along the front lines, as well as missile and drone bombardments on Ukrainian cities, has continued.
While Mr. Trump has at times voiced frustration with Mr. Putin’s continued barrages against Ukraine, he has not followed through on threats to impose new economic penalties against the Kremlin.
“Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and then I get very angry about it.”
Mr. Trump said he still believed that “we’re going to get the war done,” but acknowledged that “it’s tough.”
With the Trump administration continuing its diplomatic efforts, Mr. Zelensky said on Wednesday that his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and the head of the country’s security council, Rustem Umerov, would meet with Mr. Trump’s team on Friday in New York. They will discuss security guarantees to be included in any future peace agreement, Mr. Zelensky said.
In the overnight attacks on Kyiv on Thursday, fires and falling debris were reported in at least 23 locations around the city, and missiles and drones could still be heard flying overhead at dawn.
Referring to the damage to the E.U. mission, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said that Russia had targeted diplomats in violation of the Vienna Convention.
The E.U. ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, said on X: “Russia’s ‘peace’ last night: a massive strike on Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles. This is Moscow’s true answer to peace efforts.”
Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and its war with Russia.
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