Russia slams Kyiv, hits government building
This was Moscow's largest aerial assault since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022
What happened
Russia fired more than 800 attack drones and 13 missiles at cities across Ukraine on Saturday night and early Sunday, in Moscow's largest aerial assault since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022. At least four people were killed, including a woman and her infant, and a main government building, in a heavily guarded section of Kyiv, was struck for the first time in the war.
Who said what
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the fire-damaged Cabinet of Ministers building would be restored, "but lost lives cannot be returned." President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that "such killings now, when real diplomacy could have already begun long ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the Kremlin was "mocking diplomacy."
French President Emmanuel Macron said last Thursday that 26 countries had agreed to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine after fighting stops. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded on Friday that such European troops would be considered "legitimate targets for destruction."
What next?
President Donald Trump said "yes" last night when asked if he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia. That's the "closest he has come to suggesting he is on the verge of ramping up sanctions against Moscow," Reuters said, though "he did not elaborate." The "latest in a series of deadlines Trump has given Putin to show progress toward peace came and went last week," The Wall Street Journal said.
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