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Russia's latest missile and drone barrage killed nine people and disrupted electricity across Ukraine. The attacks intensified Kyiv's appeals for Western air defences, weapons and intelligence support.
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Russia launched another wave of missile and drone attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least nine people and causing power cuts across 12 regions, according to a report by news agency Press Trust of India.
The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Norway to seek greater American and European support, including stronger air defences and joint weapons production.
US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been involved with Jared Kushner in unsuccessful efforts to broker a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, was also in Oslo. Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was expected to join the meeting with Zelenskyy by videoconference. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were also scheduled to meet Zelenskyy.
“We are maintaining all contacts that can help bring peace,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X after arriving in Oslo. He said officials would discuss strengthening Ukraine's air defences and jointly producing weapons.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hoped to soon organise a meeting in Russia with the US envoys, though he did not specify where or when it could take place. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin's meetings with Trump's envoys, potentially as early as Wednesday, would be “very important”. “We highly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators,” Peskov said.
Zelenskyy also said he had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid concerns over further American support for Ukraine. He had told a bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Monday that he believed “some political decision has been made to slow down ... support for us”.
Ukraine has nearly exhausted its supply of American-made Patriot air defence interceptors, which it needs to stop Russian ballistic missiles, PTI reported. Zelenskyy has asked Washington to send more, but said the Pentagon was delaying the delivery of missiles bought for Ukraine by other countries.
Zelenskyy said he sought Rubio's help to ensure that the US continued sharing vital intelligence with Ukraine after Kyiv received either no warning or delayed warnings about recent Russian missile attacks. He also said speed restrictions remained on Ukraine's use of Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, affecting battlefield operations.
Trump has also waived sanctions on Russia. Zelenskyy criticised the move, saying it was helping Putin continue Moscow's full-scale invasion, which will complete five years in February. Zelenskyy described his discussion with Rubio as “a substantive conversation”. “I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position,” he said on social media.
Rubio, who arrived in India on Tuesday on an official visit, denied that the US was withholding assistance from Ukraine. “Nothing has changed,” he told reporters. He said the Patriot ammunition required by Ukraine was in short supply and was also needed elsewhere. “There has not been some deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine,” he said.
European countries are seeking to make up for any reduction in US supplies to Ukraine, though some key equipment is American-made. European countries and European Union institutions have allocated €237 billion, or USD 266 billion, to support Ukraine, compared with €115 billion, or USD 129 billion, from the US, according to Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday questioned whether US negotiators had acted as honest brokers in peace efforts. Ukrainian officials have said the Trump administration encouraged Kyiv to surrender territory to Russia in exchange for peace.
“Although American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for one and a half years now, why Ukraine hasn't surrendered on Putin's terms is because Europe has been supporting Ukraine,” Kallas said. “Ukraine wants peace more than anybody because they have been under this bombardment for already four years now,” she told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “The only one who doesn't want peace is Russia.”
Four people were killed and 27 others, including children, were wounded in Russian missile and drone attacks on the Kyiv region over the past day, regional police said. Three people were killed and six wounded in the Obukhiv district, where warehouses were damaged. In the Bucha district, a woman was killed and 21 people were wounded, including eight children, while hundreds of buildings were damaged.
Three people were killed and four injured on Tuesday morning after two vehicles caught fire in a Russian attack on the Kyiv-Odesa highway, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. Those killed included the driver of a shuttle bus that transports people from Kyiv to the Military Memorial Cemetery. Two more people were killed in a Russian attack on warehouses on the outskirts of Dnipro in central Ukraine, authorities said.
Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo reported power cuts in 12 regions after the attacks. The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centres, port infrastructure and three cargo ships at the port of Reni in the Odesa region. It said another bulk carrier was hit at sea while travelling to Odesa.
Russia's Defence Ministry also said air defences intercepted 136 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight. Tambov region Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said the attack caused a fire at an unspecified industrial facility.
The latest attacks killed at least nine people and disrupted electricity supplies across Ukraine as Zelenskyy held talks in Norway and sought continued US and European military and diplomatic support.
With PTI Inputs
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