Russia continues attacks on Ukraine while peace negotiations risk yielding few results

Russia attacked Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 70 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since last July and just as peace efforts are coming to a head.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the attack he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home as the city reeled from the bombardment that kept residents on edge for about 11 hours.

It appeared to be Russia’s biggest attack on Kyiv in nine months, and Zelenskyy called it one of Russia’s ”most outrageous.”

The attack even drew a rare rebuke of Russian president Vladimir Putin from US president Donald Trump, who said he was “not happy” with it. “Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

The assault in Kyiv is the latest in a series of particularly deadly attacks by Russia on Ukrainian cities: Russia notably hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.

Peace negotiations are ongoing, and so are Russia's attacks

These attacks come as talks between the two countries to stop the war have been going on for weeks and risk yielding no agreement.

A few hours before the bombing of Kyiv, US president Donald Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy, accusing him of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Zelenskyy however said that the future of negotiations depended on Moscow.

The Ukrainian president has repeated many times during the more than three-year war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.

He noted Thursday that Ukraine had agreed to a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russia’s attacks had continued.

Senior US officials nevertheless warned that the Trump administration could soon give up its efforts to stop the war if the two sides don’t compromise.

Polish president Andrzej Duda also urged Russia and Ukraine to make concessions.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the attack underscored that the main obstacle to ending the war is Russia. “While claiming to seek peace, Russia launched a deadly airstrike on Kyiv,” she wrote on social media. “This isn’t a pursuit of peace, it’s a mockery of it."