Zelenskiy calls for more pressure on Russia
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early on Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and wounded 142 others, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.
Zelenskiy, along with the head of the presidential office, Andrii Yermak, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, visited the site of the apartment building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district on Thursday morning, laying flowers and paying tribute to the 23 people who died there after a direct hit by a missile brought down the structure.
"This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine's partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to "feel the real cost of the war."
Tuesday's attack on Kyiv was part of a sweeping barrage as Russia once again sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences. Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles in what Zelenskiy called one of the biggest bombardments of the war, which began on February 24, 2022.
As Russia proceeds with a summer offensive on parts of the roughly 1000km front line, US-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction. Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected an offer from US President Donald Trump for an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt on Ukraine's mobilisation effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.
Meanwhile, Middle East tensions and US trade tariffs have drawn away world attention from Ukraine's pleas for more diplomatic and economic pressure to be placed on Moscow.
In recent weeks, Russia has intensified long-range attacks that have struck urban residential areas. Yet on Wednesday, Putin denied that his military had struck such targets, saying that attacks were "against military industries, not residential quarters."
Putin told senior news leaders of international news agencies in St Petersburg, Russia, that he was open to talks with Zelenskiy, but repeated his accusation that the Ukrainian leader had lost his legitimacy after his term expired last year — allegations rejected by Kyiv and its allies.
"We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of a settlement," Putin said, noting that a previous round of talks in Istanbul had led to an exchange of prisoners and the bodies of fallen soldiers.
A new round of such exchanges took place in Ukraine's Chernihiv region on Thursday, involving the repatriation of Ukrainian prisoners of war who, according to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War or KSHPPV, were suffering from severe health issues caused by injuries and prolonged detention.
The exchange was confirmed by Russia's defence ministry, which released a video of Russian servicemen at an exchange area in Belarus after being released in the prisoner swap.
Commenting on the exchange, Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram: "We are working to get our people back. Thank you to everyone who helps make these exchanges possible. Our goal is to free each and every one."
Many of the exchanged Ukrainian POWs had spent over three years in captivity, with a large number captured during the defence of the now Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in 2022, according to the KSHPPV, which added that preparations for another prisoner exchange are ongoing.
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"Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address. The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9. A man was killed and three other people were injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities. St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday. Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for two hours on Sunday. Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday. 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