A Russian rocket attack kills 3 in Ukraine’s city of Sumy, drawing condemnation from Zelenskyy
KYIV Ukraine AP A Russian attack targeted the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday killing at least three people and leaving numerous injured administrators disclosed Ukraine s Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the assault saying it underscored that Moscow has no intentions of halting the three-year war Ukrainian bureaucrats explained a barrage of rockets struck apartment buildings and a clinical facility in the center of the northeastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the -year war Delegations from the warring sides held talks in Istanbul on Monday and agreed to swap dead and wounded troops but their terms for ending the war remained far apart Zelenskyy appeals for pressure on Moscow The Ukrainian president noted the attack on Sumy was a utterly deliberate strike on civilians and that one of the rockets pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate The Russians brutally struck Sumy directly targeting the city ordinary streets with rocket artillery Zelenskyy declared That s all you need to know about Russia s desire to end this war the Ukrainian president wrote in a post on Telegram Zelenskyy appealed for global pressure and decisive action from the United States Europe and everyone in the world who holds power without it he revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire The war has killed more than Ukrainian civilians according to the United Nations as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly -kilometer -mile front line where the war of attrition is grinding on despite U S -led efforts to broker a peace deal A stunning Ukrainian drone attack Though Russia has a bigger army and more economic guidance than Ukraine a spectacular Ukrainian drone attack over the weekend damaged or destroyed more than warplanes at air bases deep inside Russia Ukrainian leaders explained touting it as a serious blow to the Kremlin s strategic arsenal and its military prestige The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that the Ukrainian attack set several planes ablaze at two air bases but declared that the military repelled attempted attacks on three other air bases Both Zelenskyy and Putin have been eager to show U S President Donald Trump that they share his ambition to end the fighting and also avoid manageable punitive measures from Washington Ukraine has accepted a U S -proposed ceasefire but the Kremlin effectively rejected it Putin has made it clear that any peace settlement has to be on his terms Dmitry Medvedev a former Russian president who now serves as deputy head of the country s Safety Council chaired by Putin indicated on Tuesday that there would be no let-up in Russia s invasion of its neighbor The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else s delusional terms but for ensuring our swift domination and the complete destruction of Ukraine s leadership he explained In an apparent comment on the latest Ukrainian strikes he declared that retribution is inevitable Our army is pushing forward and will continue to advance Medvedev announced adding that everything that requirements to be blown up will be blown up and those who must be eliminated will be A Putin-Zelenskyy-Trump meeting unlikely soon Moscow says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to suggestions that a face-to-face meeting between Putin Trump and Zelenskyy could break the deadlock declared the possibility was unlikely in the near future Meanwhile a senior Ukrainian delegation led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic activity Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko has travelled to Washington for talks about defense sanctions and postwar recovery Andrii Yermak the head of Ukraine s presidential office mentioned Tuesday The delegation will meet with representatives from both major U S political parties as well as with advisors to Trump Yermak added Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv welcomed the strikes on Russian air bases but were gloomy about prospects for a peace agreement Russia has invested too multiple tools in this war to just stop for nothing explained serviceman Oleh Nikolenko Anastasia Nikolenko a -year-old designer noted diplomacy can t stop the fighting We need to show by force by physical force that we cannot be defeated she mentioned Russia not long ago expanded its attacks on Sumy and in the Kharkiv region following Putin s promise to create a buffer zone along the margin that might prevent long-range Ukrainian attacks hitting Russian soil The city of Sumy about kilometers miles from the frontier had a prewar population of around Russia s Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday its troops had taken the Ukrainian village of Andriivka close to the perimeter in the Sumy region Ukraine made no immediate comment on the claim which could not be independently verified Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine Source
