Attack on Ukraine kills 3, wounds dozens
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday said that a delegation headed by security council secretary Rustem Umerov was on its way to the United States to continue talks on an agreement to end Russia's war.
Umerov has been put in charge of the Ukrainian delegation after the previous lead negotiator, Zelenskiy's powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak, resigned on Friday hours after anti-corruption detectives searched his apartment.
Zelenskiy said he expected that the results of previous meetings with the US in Geneva, which took place last weekend, would now be "hammered out" today. Those meetings allowed Ukraine to present a counter-offer to proposals laid out by US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to leaders in Kyiv almost two weeks ago.
Ukraine is facing significant pressure from Washington to agree to the terms of a peace deal while Zelenskiy finds himself in the most difficult political and military situation since the early days of Russia's invasion in 2022.
Meanwhile, a vast Russian overnight attack on Ukraine killed three people and wounded nearly 30, officials said yesterday, with more than 600,000 households left without power after strikes on the grid.
Zelenskiy said Russia had launched around 36 missiles and nearly 600 drones in the attack.
Ukraine's energy ministry said the overnight attack had hit power facilities in Kyiv and five other Ukrainian regions. More than 500,000 of the households which lost power were in the capital.
Meanwhile, Ukraine hit two tankers used by Russia to export oil while skirting Western sanctions with marine drones in the Black Sea. The joint operation to hit the so-called 'shadow fleet' vessels was run by the SBU and Ukraine's navy, an official said on condition of anonymity.
