Russia launched one of its biggest aerial attacks this year at Ukraine, firing 574 drones and 40 missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday.
The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country, it said. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in western Ukraine. He provided no further details.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine will hold intensive meetings to understand what kind of security guarantees its allies are willing to provide after receiving signals that the United States would back reinvigorated discussions seeking an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The details are being hammered out among national security advisers and military officials and Zelenskyy thinks they will take clearer shape within 10 days. He then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said.
“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Zelenskyy said, speaking to reporters Wednesday after his trip to Washington along with Europe’s top leaders.
“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” Zelenskyy said. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”
Article 5 is NATO’s common defense guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.
A venue for the meeting is being discussed with Switzerland, Austria and Turkey as possibilities, Zelenskyy added.
Kyiv still does not have clarity over what kind of support it can expect from allies. A coalition of more than 30 countries have in principle pledged to contribute to security guarantees but talks came to a standstill when the U.S. remained ambivalent about its role.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said working on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement would not work, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work. We have already explained more than once that Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and harshly,” Lavrov said at a news conference Wednesday
