Russian drones, missiles pound Ukraine ahead of Zelenskiy-Trump meeting

Russia attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said would be a crucial meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of war.

Zelenskiy cast the vast overnight attack, which he said involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and knocked out power and heat in parts of the capital, as Russia’s response to the ongoing peace efforts brokered by Washington.

Before the strikes, the Ukrainian leader had said Sunday’s talks in Florida would focus on the territory to be controlled by each side once fighting ends in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, started by Russia’s 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.

The attack continued throughout the morning, and a nearly 10-hour air raid alert for the capital only ended at 11:20 local time (0920 GMT). Authorities said one person was killed by the attack in the Kyiv region, while at least 19 people were wounded in the capital itself, including two children.

“If Russia turns even the Christmas and New Year period into a time of destroyed homes and burned apartments, of ruined power plants, then this sick activity can only be responded to with truly strong steps,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, calling on the U.S. and Europe to apply more pressure on Moscow.

He said rescuers were still searching for a person trapped under the rubble in one of the damaged residential buildings.

Russia made no immediate comment on the attacks.

THOUSANDS OF HOMES WITHOUT HEAT

Explosions echoed across Kyiv from the early pre-dawn hours on Saturday as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.

Authorities said various locations in seven different districts of Kyiv had sustained damage, and at least three high-rise apartment blocks were on fire.

State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across Ukraine, including in Kyiv and the surrounding region were struck by Russia, and emergency power cuts had been implemented across the capital.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said a third of Kyiv was left without heat by the strikes as temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday morning.

Authorities in Kyiv region, which surrounds the city but does not include it, said 320,000 households had lost power after the attack.

The strikes also prompted the temporary closure of Rzeszow and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland, to the west of Ukraine, after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency posted on X.

Russia had launched strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Thursday night and stepped up attacks on the southern region of Odesa, the site of Ukraine’s main seaports, Ukrainian authorities said.

TERRITORIAL CONTROL: A DIPLOMATIC STUMBLING BLOCK

Territory remains the main diplomatic stumbling block, though Zelenskiy told journalists in Kyiv on Friday that a 20-point draft document – the cornerstone of a U.S. push to clinch a peace deal – is 90% complete.

He said a security guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. was almost ready – a critical element after guarantees in earlier post-Soviet years proved meaningless.

“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” Zelenskiy posted on social media.

Trump said the United States was the driving force behind the process.

“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told Politico. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”

Before their meeting, Zelenskiy will have a call on Saturday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders, a Commission spokesperson said.

Zelenskiy told Axios the U.S. had offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to renewal, but Kyiv wanted a longer agreement with legally binding provisions to guard against further Russian aggression.

Trump said he believed Sunday’s meeting would go well. He also said he expected to speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want.”

NUCLEAR PLANT, FREE ECONOMIC ZONE ALSO AT ISSUE

In addition to territory, a critical point is control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest, which was seized by Russia in the opening weeks of the war.

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from the areas of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian troops have failed to occupy in their drive to secure all of the Donbas, which also includes the Luhansk region.

Kyiv, however, wants the fighting halted at the current lines.

Under a U.S. compromise, a free economic zone would be set up if Ukrainian troops pull back from parts of the Donetsk region, though details have yet to be worked out.

Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying that if he is not able to push the U.S. to back Ukraine’s position on the land issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire allowing Ukraine to prepare for and hold the vote.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Kyiv’s version of the 20-point plan differed from what Russia had been discussing with the U.S., according to the Interfax-Russia news agency.

But he expressed optimism that matters had reached a “turning point” in the search for a settlement.

Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke with members of the Trump administration after Moscow received U.S. proposals about a possible peace deal, the Kremlin said on Friday. It did not disclose how Moscow had viewed the documents.