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‘Barbaric’ attack on Ukraine’s largest cities during peace talks – further negotiations expected ‘as early as next week’ | World News
Fresh talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine could take place “as early as next week”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
Trilateral negotiations took place in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Friday and Saturday, which were “productive” and “constructive” according to Washington and Mr Zelenskyy respectively – but no breakthrough occurred.
Talk of peace also didn’t stop Moscow from raining down hundreds of missiles and drones on Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, early Saturday morning.
Firefighters have once again been dealing with the aftermath of drone and missile strikes in Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
“This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin’s place is not at [Donald Trump’s] Board of Peace, but in
the dock of the special tribunal,” said Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.
Some 1.2 million buildings were left without power nationwide after the attack, while temperatures plummeted to -13C (8.6F) in the capital.
Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke said the strikes were timed to influence the talks by attempting to convince the White House that the Russian army was unstoppable.
One person was killed in the attack and 31 people were injured. Footage showed firefighters scrambling to tackle flames ignited by the strikes.
“Targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a clear breach of the rules of warfare,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said.
Despite images showing damage to apartments, the Russian defence ministry claimed it targeted Ukrainian military and industrial installations as well as energy and transport infrastructure used by the armed forces.
The Ukrainian negotiating team’s main task in Abu Dhabi was to convey how the relentless Russian strikes were undermining diplomacy, Mr Zelenskyy said.
For its part, the Kremlin continued to demand Mr Zelenskyy give up all the land Russian soldiers have occupied by force, plus the rest of the eastern Donbas region.
Ukraine shows little appetite to concede – and nor do its citizens, according to polls.
Russia even floated the idea of using the bulk of nearly $5bn (£3.66bn) in Russian assets frozen in the US to fund rebuilding the cities it has destroyed in the Donbas.
Mr Zelenskyy dismissed it as “nonsense”.
