US President Donald Trump has voiced his frustration over deadly Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital as he pushes both sides to agree to a ceasefire.
It comes after at least 12 people were killed and around 70 injured after Russia fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv overnight.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,” Mr Trump said on social media in a rare rebuke directed at Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Earlier Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes a document with proposals that emerged from yesterday’s talks in London is now on Mr Trump’s desk.
“After the proposal from the United States, other papers appeared, and I believe that today, this format, this document, is on President Trump’s desk,” Mr Zelensky said.
“Anything that contradicts our values or our constitution cannot be included in any agreement.”
President Zelensky was speaking in South Africa, having cut short his trip to the country after the latest Russian attack which a Ukrainian military source said used a North Korean KN-23 ballistic missile, Reuters reported.
‘Stop lying’, Macron urges Putin
Ukraine has been battered with aerial attacks throughout Russia’s three-year invasion, but deadly strikes on the capital, which is better protected by air defences than other cities, are less common.
The attacks threw yet more doubt on already fraught US efforts to push Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, hours after Mr Trump lashed out at Mr Zelensky for refusing to accept Moscow’s occupation of Crimea as a condition for peace.
The Ukrainian president also said that that is no indication that the Trump administration is putting strong pressure on Russia to end its invasion of his country.
Mr Zelensky, speaking alongside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said it was already a big compromise on Kyiv’s part to agree to negotiate with Russia once a ceasefire is in place.
Mr Ramaphosa – who has warm relations with Russia – praised Mr Zelensky’s willingness to agree to an unconditional ceasefire so that peace talks could begin.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that his Ukrainian counterpart cannot be expected to accept ceasefire terms while his capital city is being bombarded, and called on Vladimir Putin to “stop lying”.
Mr Putin is yet to respond to Mr Zelensky’s proposal to completely halt air attacks on civilian targets, and last month rejected a US-Ukrainian call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
“It has been 44 days since Ukraine agreed to a full ceasefire and a halt to strikes… And it has been 44 days of Russia continuing to kill our people,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on X.
Olena Davydiuk, a 33-year-old lawyer in Kyiv, said she saw windows breaking and doors “falling out of their hinges” during the latest barrage.
“People were being pulled out of the rubble. They said that there were dead people there too,” she added.
‘Phone calls under rubble’
Russia fired at least 70 missiles and 145 drones at Ukraine between late yesterday and early this morning, the main target being Kyiv, the Ukrainian air force said.
Of the 215 projectiles, 112 were “confirmed to have been shot down”, it wrote on Telegram.
Loud blasts sounded over the Ukrainian capital at around 1am local time, after air raid sirens rang out across Kyiv warning residents to head to shelters.
Through the night, rescue workers were scouring through the rubble of destroyed buildings and tackling blazes in apartment blocks. The interior ministry said damage was recorded at 13 separate locations across the capital.
“Phone calls can be heard from under the rubble – the search will continue until we are confident that we have found everyone,” Mr Klymenko said, adding that two children were unaccounted for.
Russia’s army has launched some of its most deadly and brazen aerial strikes at Ukraine over the last month – defying Mr Trump’s push to bring about a rapid end to the bloodshed.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Mr Zelensky, said: “Putin shows only a desire to kill.”
Russia also launched a large-scale attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, firing at least seven missiles and hitting a “densely populated residential area,” city mayor Igor Terekhov said.
Separately, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had downed 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 45 over Crimea.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin condemned the attack on Kyiv and said the targeting of civilians “has to stop”.
In a post on X, he said: “It’s time for a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine”.
