{"id":67262,"date":"2025-05-02T02:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T02:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/67262\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T02:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T02:35:11","slug":"at-least-9-dead-in-drone-strikes-after-us-and-ukraine-sign-minerals-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/67262\/","title":{"rendered":"At least 9 dead in drone strikes after US and Ukraine sign minerals deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike on Odesa killed two people Thursday, officials said, just hours after Kyiv and Washington signed a long-anticipated agreement<\/a> granting U.S. access to Ukraine\u2019s mineral resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The attack in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which struck a market in the town of Oleshky, killed seven and wounded more than 20 people, Moscow-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time of the attack, there were many people in the market,\u201d Saldo wrote on Telegram. After the first wave of strikes, he said, Ukraine sent further drones to \u201cfinish off\u201d any survivors.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike on the Black Sea port city of Odesa early Thursday killed two people and injured 15 others, Ukrainian emergency services said.<\/p>\n

Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school. <\/p>\n

Videos shared by Kiper on Telegram showed a high-rise building with a severely damaged facade, a shattered storefront and firefighters battling flames.<\/p>\n

A drone struck and ignited a fire at a petrol station in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.<\/p>\n

Following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had ignored a U.S. proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire for more than 50 days now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were also our proposals \u2014 at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land,\u201d he said. \u201cRussia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agreement on mineral wealth <\/p>\n

The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement<\/a> granting American access to Ukraine\u2019s vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy originally proposed such a deal last year as a way of helping secure Ukraine\u2019s future by tying it to U.S. interests. Ukrainian officials said previous versions<\/a> of the accord would have reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country\u2019s resources but that the version signed Wednesday was far more beneficial to Ukraine. <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said Thursday that the signing of the minerals deal was the \u201cfirst result\u201d of the meeting he had with Trump at the Vatican during the pope\u2019s funeral and called the agreement \u201ctruly historic.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his nightly address, he said that, per the signed agreement, there were no debts to be paid from past U.S. aid to Kyiv. He said the agreement will be sent to the parliament to be ratified and that Ukraine was \u201cinterested in ensuring that there are no delays with the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Zelenskyy, the agreement is \u201ctruly equal\u201d and \u201ccreates an opportunity for investments in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is working together with America and on fair terms, when both the Ukrainian state and the United States, which help us in defense, can earn in partnership,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Despite that, America\u2019s top diplomat highlighted the uncertainty of a larger peace deal that the U.S. is trying to broker between Ukraine and Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still far apart. They\u2019re closer, but they\u2019re still far apart,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News Channel\u2019s \u201cHannity\u201d on Thursday night. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to take a real breakthrough here very soon to make this possible, or I think the president is going to have to make a decision about how much more time we\u2019re going to dedicate to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Views in Ukraine<\/p>\n

Tymofiy Mylovanov, former economy minister and current president of the Kyiv School of Economics, said that despite what he described as \u201cunimaginable pressure\u201d during negotiations on the minerals deal, Ukraine succeeded in defending its interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge political and diplomatic win for Ukraine,\u201d Mylovanov wrote on Facebook. \u201cThe deal looks fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mylovanov said the deal does not restrict Kyiv to selling only to American buyers. Instead, he said, the deal recognizes contributions from both sides: Ukraine\u2019s in the form of revenues from new projects, and the U.S. potentially through military assistance.<\/p>\n

Kyiv residents voiced mixed reactions to the newly signed U.S.-Ukraine economic agreement, with many saying they had not yet had time to fully understand the deal\u2019s implications.<\/p>\n

Among those who spoke to The Associated Press about the deal was Diana Abramova, who attended a rally in Independence Square demanding information on missing Ukrainian soldiers. Her father, Valentyn Stroyvans, went missing in combat last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny news is hard to take \u2014 whether it\u2019s about negotiations or anything else,\u201d Abramova said. \u201cBut I still believe and hope that any action will bring us closer to one thing: Ukraine\u2019s victory. Only victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

University lecturer Natalia Vysotska, 74, said she wasn\u2019t familiar with the details of the agreement but remained cautiously optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the terms are \u2014 they may not be favorable for Ukraine at all. Still, if it was signed, our experts must have weighed the pros and cons. I hope it will be beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others shared a more skeptical view. Iryna Vasylevska, a 37-year-old Kyiv resident, expressed frustration and disillusionment with the broader implications of the deal.<\/p>\n

She told the AP she feels terrible that \u201cour land is just a bargaining chip for the rest of the world and that we do not have our own full protection, but rely on someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision is that instead of strengthening ourselves, we continue to give it all away. I feel sorry for our land and for our people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Russian reaction to the minerals deal<\/p>\n

Reaction to the signing was generally muted in Moscow on Wednesday, a holiday in Russia. But the deputy chair of Russia\u2019s National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Trump had forced Ukraine to effectively \u201cpay\u201d for American military aid with its mineral resources. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow military supplies will have to be paid for with the national wealth of a disappearing country,\u201d he claimed in a post on Telegram. <\/p>\n

Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the Russian Civic Chamber\u2019s commission on sovereignty, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that Zelenskyy had effectively handed Ukraine over to \u201clegally prescribed slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry reported shooting down eight Ukrainian drones overnight on Sunday. The statement was made on Thursday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Morton reported from London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[51,34053,34051,32,2595,2000,299,4179,10546,2820,34056,23238,285,7659,7661,18330,34052,657,7662,34055,34054,2601,10673,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-67262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-diana-abramova","10":"tag-dmitry-medvedev","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-drones","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-kyiv","17":"tag-marco-rubio","18":"tag-natalia-vysotska","19":"tag-odesa","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-russia-government","22":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","23":"tag-telegram","24":"tag-u-s-national-security-council","25":"tag-ukraine","26":"tag-ukraine-government","27":"tag-vladimir-rogov","28":"tag-vladimir-saldo","29":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","30":"tag-washington-news","31":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114435910818088459","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67262","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=67262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}