KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight, in one of its biggest aerial attacks on Ukraine of the year, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday, while a recent diplomatic push to stop the three-year war is trying to gain momentum.
The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country, the air force said, where much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s Western allies is believed to be delivered and stored. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.
It was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and the eighth-largest in terms of missiles, according to official Ukrainian figures. Most such Russian attacks have hit civilian areas.
The strikes occurred during a renewed U.S.-led effort to reach a peace settlement following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor. U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week, and at the start of this week hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House.
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since the White House talks.
Zelenskyy condemned the overnight attack, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all.”
Rubio to host Ukraine security talks with Europe
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host a conference call Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said.
One of Kyiv’s conditions for signing any peace deal is getting Western-backed military assurances to deter Russia from mounting another invasion in the coming years.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.
It was not immediately clear which countries would be represented on the call with Rubio. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to outline a discussion that had not been publicly announced.
Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on Moscow
Ukraine and European leaders have accused Putin of stalling in ongoing peace efforts, including Ukraine's proposal of a ceasefire and Zelenskyy's offer to sit down with the Russian leader. The Kremlin has reacted coolly to those possibilities.
Lavrov, Moscow’s top diplomat, on Thursday repeated Russia’s policy that Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy — but only after key issues have previously been worked out by senior officials in what could be a long negotiating process.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.” It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Zelenskyy said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has kept up its attacks with domestically produced long-range drones on infrastructure inside Russia that supports Moscow's war effort. Among other targets, it has hit oil refineries, and Russian wholesale gasoline prices have reached record highs in recent days.
Strike on U.S. electronics plant
Almost all the overnight missiles were fired from inside Russia. They reached deep into western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary.
Western parts of Ukraine are far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country, where a grinding war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a kindergarten and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram.
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
A U.S. electronics plant near the Hungarian border was also struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, Hunder told The Associated Press by phone.
At the moment of impact, 600 nightshift workers were on the premises, and six of them were injured, Hunder said. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s approximately 600 members, he added
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Hunder said.
Ukraine awaits detail of security guarantees
In comments Wednesday that were embargoed until Thursday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine will hold intensive meetings to understand what kind of security guarantees its allies are willing to provide.
The details are being hammered out by national security advisers and military officials. The plans will become clearer by the end of next week, Zelenskyy said. He then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Trump, Zelenskyy said.
A venue for the meeting is being discussed, and Switzerland, Austria and Turkey are possibilities, Zelenskyy added.
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Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this story.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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