Moscow, July 5: Russia unleashed a record air strike on Ukraine as US President Donald Trump expressed disappointment over his latest phone call with Vladimir Putin aimed at bringing an end to the war.Ukrainian air defense said Russia fired 550 drones and missiles, mostly targeting Kyiv, in overnight attacks that lasted more than 11 hours. It reported that 478 aerial targets were intercepted.
Blasts were heard across the capital as impacts registered in five of the city’s districts and residential homes were damaged, Kyiv’s military administration chief, Tymur Tkachenko, said on Telegram. At least one person was killed and 26 were injured, he said.
The assault came as Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” over Thursday’s call with Putin, in which the Russian president said he “will not back down” from his war aims, according to a Kremlin readout.
“I don’t think he’s looking to stop and that’s too bad,” Trump said, adding that he plans to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later that the Kremlin is paying close attention to the US leader’s statements, Interfax reported.
Zelenskiy said Friday the Russian air strikes were a “demonstratively significant and cynical blow” that had started “almost simultaneously with the discussion in media of the phone conversation between President Trump and Putin.”
He urged Ukraine’s allies to maintain deliveries of air defenses and to intensify sanctions on Russia. The German government said it was in “intensive talks” to secure Patriot air-defense systems for Kyiv.
“Without really large-scale pressure, Russia will not change its stupid destructive behavior,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
The sixth publicly acknowledged call between Trump and Putin since the US president returned to the White House in January, promising to deliver a swift end to the war, took place as Moscow has intensified air attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.
