{"id":395864,"date":"2025-09-04T00:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395864\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T00:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:16:11","slug":"russia-targets-ukraine-with-drone-and-missile-barrage-as-zelenskyy-seeks-allies-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395864\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia targets Ukraine with drone and missile barrage as Zelenskyy seeks allies’ support"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia fired more than 500 drones and two dozen missiles at Ukraine overnight, authorities said Wednesday, as Ukraine\u2019s president and European leaders pressed on with talks on how to strengthen Ukrainian defenses and boost as-yet unsuccessful U.S.-led peace efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The main Russian nighttime targets were civilian infrastructure, especially energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as another winter approaches three years after Russia\u2019s all-out invasion<\/a> of its neighbor. The attacks targeted mainly western and central Ukraine and wounded at least five people, the Ukrainian air force said.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s aerial assaults that hit civilian areas and its army\u2019s drive to crush Ukrainian defenses along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line have not abated in recent months, despite U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to stop the fighting<\/a>. While Zelenskyy has accepted Trump\u2019s proposals for a ceasefire and face-to-face peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has voiced reservations.<\/p>\n

Putin said Wednesday he believed \u201cthat if common sense prevails, it is possible to agree on an acceptable option for ending the conflict,\u201d adding that Trump has \u201ca sincere desire\u201d to find a settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me that there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d Putin said at a news conference in Beijing, wrapping up a four-day visit to China. \u201cLet\u2019s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve our goal by military means.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was ready to receive Zelenskyy for talks in Moscow, but only if the meeting is \u201cwell prepared.\u201d Kremlin officials have previously said a summit could happen only after a broad agreement has been hammered out first by lower-ranking delegations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader described the overnight strikes as \u201cdemonstrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin is demonstrating his impunity,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram Wednesday, urging tougher sanctions on Russia. \u201cOnly due to the lack of sufficient pressure, primarily on the war economy, does Russia continue this aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump and Zelenskyy 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.<\/p>\n

Meetings in Beijing bring together Russia\u2019s supporters <\/p>\n

As part of diplomatic maneuvering, Putin was in China meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping<\/a> and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un<\/a>, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three countries support Russia\u2019s war effort, Washington says. Pyongyang has sent troops and ammunition to Russia, while China and India have bought Russian oil<\/a>, indirectly helping its war economy.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief said that China\u2019s alliance with Russia<\/a> is supplying vital support for its invasion, including with products that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia is not acting alone. China provides Russia with up to 80% of dual use imports,\u201d Kaja Kallas said in a speech Wednesday at the annual European Union Institute for Security Studies conference in Brussels. \u201cThis allows the killing to continue in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his daily video address on Tuesday evening, Zelenskyy said the number of Russian drone attacks is growing, including in broad daylight, and reported \u201canother buildup of Russian forces in some sectors of the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it revealed \u201can open disregard by Russia for everything the world is doing to stop this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine and its allies discuss new military aid <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy 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.<\/p>\n

British Defense Secretary John Healey, meanwhile, was in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for meetings on how to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s military. <\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron greeted Zelenskyy in Paris on Wednesday evening, ahead of a Thursday meeting of European countries assessing what kind of postwar security guarantees<\/a> they might be able to provide with the United States.<\/p>\n

Macron said defense ministers of these countries confirmed and documented contributions from 35 coalition members at a meeting earlier in the day. He didn\u2019t elaborate on what he said was a confidential agreement, but said it was the result of \u2033intense work in recent weeks\u2033 and \u2033allows me to say that this preparatory work has been completed.\u2033<\/p>\n

\u2033We are ready, we Europeans, to bring security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day a peace deal is signed,\u2033 Macron said. \u2033The question now is about the sincerity of Russia and its successive commitments since it proposed peace to the United States.\u2019<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said that \u201cunfortunately, so far we have not seen any signals from Russia that they want to end\u201d the war. \u201cBut 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 towards a diplomatic solution,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier Wednesday he expected clarity after the Paris talks about what each country can provide.<\/p>\n

Rutte said he is \u201cdiscreetly part of all the conversations\u201d alongside NATO\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, because the plans would draw resources from alliance countries and officials need to \u201cprevent spreading our resources too thinly.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Sam McNeil in Brussels, Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Angela Charlton in Paris and Aamer Madhani in Washington, D.C. contributed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia fired more than 500 drones and two dozen missiles at Ukraine overnight, authorities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[67743,7684,32,2595,34,2000,299,1699,14307,4179,73813,2819,2596,29515,2992,8617,22817,56247,13289,285,332,7659,7661,657,7662,333,2601,7660,263,1773],"class_list":{"0":"post-395864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-alexus-grynkewich","9":"tag-china-government","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-drones","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-foreign-aid","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-india-government","19":"tag-john-healey","20":"tag-kaja-kallas","21":"tag-kim-jong-un","22":"tag-mark-rutte","23":"tag-military-and-defense","24":"tag-narendra-modi","25":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","26":"tag-north-korea-government","27":"tag-politics","28":"tag-russia","29":"tag-russia-government","30":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","31":"tag-ukraine","32":"tag-ukraine-government","33":"tag-vladimir-putin","34":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","35":"tag-war-and-unrest","36":"tag-world-news","37":"tag-xi-jinping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}