Russia launches strikes across Ukraine after Trump-Putin meeting cancelled

Open the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business, and the world

Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kiev and other cities across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least seven people and damaging critical infrastructure, a day after US president Donald Trump’s latest peace efforts collapsed.

Prime Minister Yulia Sverdenko said a young mother and her two young children were among the seven civilians killed. One person was killed in a drone attack on a kindergarten in Kharkiv, where a number of children were injured, according to Sviridenko. About twenty people were injured in the ten targeted areas.

The air strikes came after Trump canceled a summit he was scheduled to hold with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want it to be a “waste of time.” The two leaders agreed to meet during a phone call last week.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 28 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and 405 drones, mostly targeting energy and railway infrastructure.

Foreign Minister Andrej Sepha said Russian missiles and drone swarms destroyed several energy sites, leaving communities without electricity, heat and water amid cold temperatures. Emergency power outages spread across the country, according to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry.

The Kremlin said that on Wednesday, Putin supervised via video link a “training of strategic nuclear forces” that included “land, sea and air components.” Russian forces launched a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern Russia towards a testing range in Kamchatka.

The Sineva, another ballistic missile, was launched from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea on the border with Norway, while Tu-95MS bombers fired cruise missiles. Norway separately joins other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a nuclear exercise launched from the Netherlands this week, including aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

While Putin oversaw similar tests in previous years, these exercises drew attention this time because they coincided with faltering peace efforts in Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that a “large-scale strike” was carried out against “energy infrastructure facilities” that support the military-industrial complex in Ukraine, in response to “Ukrainian terrorist attacks” on civilian targets in Russia.

Russia escalated its air attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the winter, destroying nearly 60% of the gas production capacity needed to heat the country.

Sipha said Ukraine urgently needs energy resources, additional funds, mobile generating units, repair equipment and air defense capabilities before winter in order to prevent a “humanitarian crisis in central Europe.”

The northern cities of Chernihiv and Sumy, bordering Russia, were subjected to heavy missile and drone bombardment, and remained without water and electricity for several days.

In a volatile White House meeting on Friday, Trump warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Putin said he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree to his terms. Ultimately, Trump said he wanted to settle the war on the current frontline, a condition that European allies had been pushing for.

Trump canceled the summit after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US push for a ceasefire along the front line conflicted with the understanding reached in Trump’s August meeting with Putin in Alaska.

Zelensky said Wednesday’s attack proved that “Russia does not feel enough pressure to prolong the war.” He said his air defense forces and interceptor drone crews “were working all night and into the morning.”

The Ukrainian president added that the regions of Kiev, Odessa, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnitsa, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy and Sumy were attacked.

A drone flew low over Kiev before diving into a residential area on Wednesday morning. Flames and smoke rose from the site.

In Ismail, in the south, fires broke out at energy and port infrastructure sites, according to Sviridenko. In Zaporizhia, residential buildings were bombed during the night, resulting in a number of people being injured.

The attacks came after the Ukrainian army said it used Franco-British Storm Shadow missiles to strike a Russian chemical plant in the Bryansk region that produces gunpowder and explosives to fuel Moscow’s war machine.

European allies are preparing a peace deal plan that would ensure Trump remains aside in future negotiations with Russia. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is expected to present the plan to Trump later on Wednesday at the White House, and Kiev’s allies are scheduled to hold a “coalition of the willing” meeting in London on Friday.

“Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing as long as the Russian leadership does not feel critical problems,” Zelensky said. This can only be ensured through sanctions, far-reaching capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners.”