Phone Calls with West Followed by Attacks on Kyiv and Moscow

Russia attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles overnight, while Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery in Moscow as the two countries exchanged strikes hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with US President Donald Trump and European leaders.

A Reuters witness heard explosions in Kyiv, while authorities in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person had been killed in a drone attack. Air strike alerts were issued across most of Ukraine.

In Moscow, drones struck the city’s oil refinery for the second time in a week. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses had brought down more than 40 drones heading towards the Russian capital, although several reached the refinery.

Zelensky said he had spoken to Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France. He described the talks as a “coordinating conversation” aimed at ending the war.

Trump said Russia was losing more soldiers than Ukraine after suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky both appeared open to taking steps towards ending the conflict.

Fighting also continued elsewhere. Russian authorities reported deaths and injuries in Ukrainian attacks on the Belgorod and Rostov regions. Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians in the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

(Reuters, bak)