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KYIV, Ukraine: Russia fired more than 500 drones and two dozen missiles at Ukraine overnight, authorities said Wednesday, as Ukraine’s president and European leaders pressed on with talks on how to strengthen Ukrainian defenses and boost as-yet unsuccessful US-led peace efforts.
The main Russian nighttime targets were civilian infrastructure, especially energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as another winter approaches three years after Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. The attacks targeted mainly western and central Ukraine and wounded at least five people, the Ukrainian air force said.
Russia’s aerial assaults that hit civilian areas and its army’s drive to crush Ukrainian defenses along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line have not abated in recent months, despite US President Donald Trump’s attempts to stop the fighting. While Zelensky has accepted Trump’s proposals for a ceasefire and face-to-face peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has voiced reservations.
Putin said Wednesday he believed “that if common sense prevails, it is possible to agree on an acceptable option for ending the conflict,” adding that Trump has “a sincere desire” to find a settlement.
“It seems to me that there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel,” Putin said at a news conference in Beijing, wrapping up a four-day visit to China. “Let’s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve our goal by military means.”
He said he was ready to receive Zelensky for talks in Moscow, but only if the meeting is “well prepared.” Kremlin officials have previously said a summit could happen only after a broad agreement has been hammered out first by lower-ranking delegations.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader described the overnight strikes as “demonstrative.”
“Putin is demonstrating his impunity,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram Wednesday, urging tougher sanctions on Russia. “Only due to the lack of sufficient pressure, primarily on the war economy, does Russia continue this aggression.”
Trump and Zelensky are scheduled to speak Thursday, according to a White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the call that is yet to be formally announced.
Meetings in Beijing bring together Russia’s supporters
As part of diplomatic maneuvering, Putin was in China meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three countries support Russia’s war effort, Washington says. Pyongyang has sent troops and ammunition to Russia, while China and India have bought Russian oil, indirectly helping its war economy.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief said that China’s alliance with Russia is supplying vital support for its invasion, including with products that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
“Russia is not acting alone. China provides Russia with up to 80 percent of dual use imports,” Kaja Kallas said in a speech Wednesday at the annual European Union Institute for Security Studies conference in Brussels. “This allows the killing to continue in Ukraine.”
In his daily video address on Tuesday evening, Zelensky said the number of Russian drone attacks is growing, including in broad daylight, and reported “another buildup of Russian forces in some sectors of the front.”
He said it revealed “an open disregard by Russia for everything the world is doing to stop this war.”
Ukraine and its allies discuss new military aid
Zelensky arrived in Denmark on Tuesday for talks with Northern European and Baltic countries about new military aid and further diplomatic support for Ukraine. He said in Copenhagen that a program for weapons sourced from the United States and paid for by Europe for delivery to Ukraine already has commitments of more than $2 billion. The goal, he said, is to add around $1 billion to the fund each month.
British Defense Secretary John Healey, meanwhile, was in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for meetings on how to strengthen Ukraine’s military.
French President Emmanuel Macron greeted Zelensky in Paris on Wednesday evening, ahead of a Thursday meeting of European countries assessing what kind of postwar security guarantees they might be able to provide with the United States.
Macron said defense ministers of these countries confirmed and documented contributions from 35 coalition members at a meeting earlier in the day. He didn’t elaborate on what he said was a confidential agreement, but said it was the result of ″intense work in recent weeks″ and ″allows me to say that this preparatory work has been completed.″
″We are ready, we Europeans, to bring security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day a peace deal is signed,″ Macron said. ″The question now is about the sincerity of Russia and its successive commitments since it proposed peace to the United States.’
Zelensky said that “unfortunately, so far we have not seen any signals from Russia that they want to end” the war. “But I am sure that our union, the union with Europe which has been with us since the beginning of the war, and the union of Europe with America will help us increase the pressure on Russia to move toward a diplomatic solution,” he said.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier Wednesday he expected clarity after the Paris talks about what each country can provide.
Rutte said he is “discreetly part of all the conversations” alongside NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, because the plans would draw resources from alliance countries and officials need to “prevent spreading our resources too thinly.”