Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles, drones and bombs across Ukraine early Saturday, killing at least five people as it retaliated for a brazen attack by Kyiv on air bases days earlier.
The Kremlin has accelerated its attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, as direct negotiations have failed to broker an end to the three-year war or even a temporary truce.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga called for Kyiv's western allies to punish Russia for refusing to halt its invasion.
"To put an end to Russia's killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine," he said on social media.
Tens of thousands have been killed since Moscow invaded in February 2022, triggering Europe's largest conflict since World War II, destroying cities and villages across eastern Ukraine and forcing millions to flee their homes.
The attacks come ahead of an expected prisoner swap, set to take place this weekend -- the only concrete agreement to come out of peace talks between the two sides.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had fired 206 drones and nine missiles in the overnight barrage.
Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, came under "the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war," Mayor Igor Terekhov said.
The northeastern city was home to 1.4 million people before the war and lies around 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Russia.
Unprecedented Attack
The Russian strikes pummeled homes and apartment blocks there, killing at least three people and wounding 17 more, the mayor said.
Kharkiv region Governor Oleg Synegubov said the wounded included two children.
In the southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed a couple and damaged two high-rise buildings, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Attacks were also recorded on the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Ternopil regions.
Rescuers in the western city of Lutsk, near the Polish border, meanwhile discovered a second fatality from strikes a day earlier, describing the victim as a woman in her 20s.
The aerial bombardments come days after Ukraine launched a brazen attack well beyond the frontlines, damaging nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases and prompting vows of revenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia's defense ministry, meanwhile, said Saturday that its forces had downed 36 Ukrainian drones fired at its territory.
Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.
But Russia, which now controls around one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, has repeatedly rejected calls to end its three-year war.
The Kremlin said Friday the Ukraine war was "existential" for Russia.
Ceasefire Hopes Dim
The comments are Moscow's latest to dampen hopes for a breakthrough amid a flurry of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as well as telephone calls between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping the fighting.
"For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to remarks by Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children.
Putin told Trump on a phone call he would retaliate for an audacious Ukrainian drone attack that damaged nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases last Sunday, including thousands of kilometres behind the front lines in Siberia.
The Kremlin chief has issued a host of sweeping demands on Ukraine if it wants to halt the fighting.
They include completely pulling troops out of four regions claimed by Russia, but which its army does not fully control, an end to Western military support and a ban on Ukraine joining NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the demands as old ultimatums, questioned the purpose of more such talks and called for a summit to be attended by him, Putin and Trump.
The two countries are set this weekend to conduct a large prisoner exchange after agreeing at talks in Istanbul on Monday to free all wounded soldiers and those aged under 25.
AFP
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