Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow fires 582 missiles and drones at Kyiv after Zelensky rejects EU ‘buffer zone’ plan – UK Times

A Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia killed one person and injured at least 24 others, including three children, the regional governor said on Saturday.

The attack damaged infrastructure and residential buildings, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian military has struck Russia’s Krasnodar and Syzran oil refineries overnight, it said this morning.

The military recorded multiple explosions and a fire at the Krasnodar oil refinery, which it said produces 3 million tonnes of light petroleum products annually in the Krasnodar region.

There was also a fire in the Syzran oil refinery area in Samara region, which had a processing capacity of 8.5 million tonnes per year before August, the military said.

Visuals shared on social media by open-source intelligence accounts showed massive fires engulfing the facilities with widespread damage visible from the attacks.

Shortly after the attacks this morning, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of using the time meant to work towards peace for planning large-scale missile and drone assaults on Ukraine.

At least one person was killed and several injured after Russia fired at least 537 drones and 45 missiles at Ukraine.

“We saw the world’s response to the previous strike. But now, as Russia once again shows its utter disregard for words, we count on real action. It is absolutely clear that Moscow used the time meant for preparing a leaders-level meeting to organize new massive attacks,” Zelensky said on X.

He called for strict measures to deal with Moscow.

“The only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself – banking and energy sanctions,” he said.

“This war won’t stop with political statements alone; real steps are needed. We expect action from the US, Europe, and the entire world.”

The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 510 of 537 drones and 38 of 45 missiles launched by Russia in an overnight attack.

It recorded five missile and 24 drone hits at 7 locations with debris falling on 21 sites, according to the statement on the Telegram messaging app.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said it was not possible to imagine giving back Russian assets frozen inside the bloc due to the war in Ukraine unless Moscow has paid reparations.

“We can’t possibly imagine that… if… there is a ceasefire or peace deal that these assets are given back to Russia if they haven’t paid for the reparations,” she told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.

The EU says some 210bn euros ($245.85bn) of Russian assets are frozen in the bloc under sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine and some EU countries, including Poland and the Baltic states, have called for the EU to confiscate the assets and use them to support Kyiv.

But EU heavyweights France and Germany, along with Belgium, which holds most of the assets, have rebuffed such calls.

European leaders are reportedly weighing on creation of a 40km buffer zone between the Russian and Ukrainian frontlines as part of a peace deal.

The proposal is among several that military and civilian officials are considering for either a postwar or ceasefire scenario in Ukraine, the Politico reported, citing five European diplomats.

“They’re grasping for straws,” Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon official who oversaw Europe and Nato policy under Barack Obama administration, told the website.

“The Russians are not afraid of the Europeans. And if they think that a couple of British and French observers are going to deter them from marching into Ukraine, then they’re wrong.”

Donald Trump’s peace efforts appear to be failing after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched the second-largest attack on the Ukrainian capital, killing 23 people, just days after both leaders met in Alaska.

Recent US presidents have shied away from taking a tougher line with Russian president Vladimir Putin for fear of a potential nuclear conflict, a Washington think tank has said.

“Putin knows that Washington and its allies have more than enough capacity to reverse his gains in Ukraine, but it is nearly certain that he doubts the United States has the will to do so,” the Atlantic Council said in an assessment this week.

It added that “the second Trump administration has repeatedly signaled that the United States has no vital interests at stake in this war”.

Less than two weeks after Donald Trump promised an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine, Russia pounded Kyiv with the second-worst aerial assault of the war so far on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and injuring 48.

Residents of the Ukrainian capital, which lies hundreds of miles from the front line, have been forced to adapt to a constant cycle of devastating missile and drone strikes since the beginning of the war in February 2022. The sound of air raid sirens and the retreat to bomb shelters have become a daily reality.

“Russia is pressuring Ukraine through psychological methods and intimidation. This is a strategy to exhaust our moral and instil psychological terror,” Liliya Sky, a PhD student from Kyiv, told The Independent.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow’s long-held position that Russian president Vladimir Putin “doesn’t rule out” meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, but only after progress was made “at the expert level”.

A summit “must be well prepared so that it can finalize the work that must first be carried out at the expert level,” Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call yesterday.”

At this point we can’t say that the expert work is in full swing, so to speak. No, unfortunately, not. We maintain our interest and our readiness for these negotiations.”