A drone and missile attack on western Ukraine overnight that hit targets including an US-owned electronics plant proved that Vladimir Putin is trying to avoid peace talks, warned Kyiv.
The aerial assault was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came as Moscow objected to key aspects of proposals that could end the war it started in February 2022.
Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.
“The signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent,” he told Ukrainians in his nightly presidential address.
A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine.
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Mr Hunder added. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he said.
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Mr Hunter said.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”. It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a nursery school and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Mr Zelensky said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
Plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week, Mr Zelensky said, by which time he expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Mr Putin for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Donald Trump discussed the war with Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Mr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday.
Mr Trump questioned Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody”.
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.
