KYIV — A wave of Russian drone and missile strikes tore through Ukraine overnight, killing at least seven people, including two children, and injuring more than two dozen others, officials said Wednesday.
The attacks came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was shelving a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it a move to avoid what he described as a “wasted meeting.”
In Ukraine’s Kharkiv, a kindergarten was hit by one of the drones, killing a man and wounding several children, regional authorities reported. In Kyiv and surrounding villages, homes were destroyed, fires raged through residential buildings, and families were trapped beneath debris.
Among the dead were a six-month-old baby, a 12-year-old girl, and their mother, killed when a drone strike ignited their home in Pohreby, just north of the capital. A couple in their 60s died when their high-rise apartment was hit.
Residents described the assault as relentless. “It came like a bird, and then there was fire,” said Mykola Laroshynskyi, who lives next door to the family whose home was destroyed. “I ran out shouting, but no one answered. The house was already burning.”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 405 drones and 28 missiles, including 15 ballistic missiles, targeting major cities and energy infrastructure nationwide. Emergency power outages were reported in several regions, as rescue workers battled flames through the night.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in Norway for talks with European leaders, condemned the strikes as proof that “Moscow has not felt enough pressure” to stop its war. He linked the timing of the assault to the postponement of the Trump-Putin summit, saying Russia’s disinterest in diplomacy “grew as soon as long-range U.S. missiles moved further out of reach for Ukraine.”
During his visit, Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed a letter of intent for Sweden to provide 100 to 150 Gripen fighter jets over the next decade, with the first deliveries expected within three years.
Meanwhile, Russian officials insisted that summit preparations were continuing, despite Trump’s remarks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks were still “a mutual desire of both presidents,” dismissing Western reports as “gossip and speculation.”
The renewed bombardment followed Ukraine’s own strike on a Russian chemical plant in the Bryansk region, which Kyiv said produced gunpowder and explosives used against Ukrainian forces.
For Ukrainians, the night of explosions was another grim reminder that, nearly four years into the full-scale invasion, peace remains as distant as ever.
