Russia launched its largest barrage of drones and missiles in a month across Ukraine, killing at least three people, Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskysaid Saturday, as a Kyiv delegation heads to the United States for fresh peace talks.
A flurry of diplomacy is taking place after a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump triggered alarm in Kyiv, as the original draft heavily favored Russia.
The talks will be led from the Ukrainian side by Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, who Zelensky appointed following the resignation of his top aide on Friday. The Ukrainian delegation will build on developments from meetings in Geneva, where Kyiv and its European allies put forward a counter-proposal, Zelensky said.
Moscow launched around 36 missiles and almost 600 drones at Ukraine on Friday night into Saturday, the Ukrainian president said. Large parts of the capital, Kyiv, are without power.
"The main targets of the attack were energy infrastructure and civilian facilities, with extensive damage and fires in residential buildings. We currently have reports of dozens injured and three killed," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said defense forces had shot down the bulk of the projectiles fired as of Saturday morning – the majority of them Iranian-made Shahed drones and Russian long-range Gerbera drones.
The strikes hit the homes of ordinary Ukrainians as well as the country's energy grid and critical infrastructure, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Telegram on Saturday morning, calling it "a difficult night… particularly in Kyiv."
Two people, including a 42-year-old man, were killed in the capital and 38 were injured, including a child, according to local authorities and police. The third person, a 74-year-old woman, was killed in the Kyiv region, local authorities said.
Kyiv was under an air raid alert for more than ten hours overnight into Saturday, CNN reporters in the city said, with drones and loud explosions audible in the skies overhead.
Photos published by Reuters showed emergency services personnel working to enter a multi-story building in Kyiv. Dozens of windows were shattered, and a large part of the facade appeared scorched.
Poland scrambled military jets and air defense systems in response to the attack, Warsaw's armed forces said, adding "these actions are of a preventative nature."
Ukraine's energy ministry said Russian attacks overnight left more than 600,000 consumers without power.
"As a result of the attack, more than 500,000 consumers in Kyiv, more than 100,000 in the Kyiv region and almost 8,000 in the Kharkiv region were left without electricity in the morning," the ministry said.
Private energy company DTEK said in an update later on Saturday that power had been restored to about 360,000 families.
The attack came as the Ukrainian delegation is on their way to further discuss the US-drafted peace plan, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
Zelensky's lead negotiator in the talks, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak, resigned on Friday after anti-corruption agencies raided his home, creating a huge domestic headache at a time of diplomatic and military vulnerability for Kyiv.
In his place, Zelensky appointed Umerov as head of the Ukrainian delegation. Umerov will participate in talks with the US and "other international partners of Ukraine, as well as with representatives of the Russian Federation to achieve a just and lasting peace," a government statement read.
"Ukraine continues its systematic and constructive diplomatic work for the sake of a dignified peace," Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Zelensky will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron – one of Kyiv's key allies – in Paris on Monday, according to the Elysée Palace.
A US team is also expected to visit Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.
Putin had said that the original proposal could "form the basis for future agreements" but also said a deal would only be possible if Kyiv withdrew from some areas in eastern Ukraine it currently holds.
"If they don't withdraw, we will achieve this through military means," the Russian leader added.
Daria Tarasova-Markina, Victoria Butenko, Laura Sharman, Billy Stockwell and Joseph Ataman contributed reporting.
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