Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has launched new attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure using ballistic missiles and jet drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, adding that Kyiv again we received no early warning of the attack by partner countries who previously shared their intelligence.
Zelensky is grappling with Washington’s recent moves in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including lift US sanctions against Moscow and sign an agreement with import diesel from Moscow.
Meanwhile, Moscow and kyiv were discussing the possible evacuation of the Russian-occupied front-line city. Olechky in the southern region of Kherson, where around 2,000 people have been deprived of food and medical supplies for months, according to a Ukrainian human rights official.
Vital US supplies are behind schedule, says Zelenskyy
Zelensky said speed restrictions were still in place for Kyiv’s use of the train. military grade version of the satellite Internet service of the American company SpaceX.
Full service was in the process of being restored late last week, but Zelenskyy said Monday that restrictions were still slowing Ukrainian drones along the front.
In addition, a serious shortage of American-made Patriot air defense systems has made Ukraine more vulnerable. Delays are still occurring with some “vital supplies” from the United States, Zelenskyy said without elaborating, and senior officials in kyiv are urgently contacting other countries to strengthen their air defenses.
Western intelligence sharing has helped Ukraine counter and hold back Russia’s devastating ballistic missiles. The full-scale invasion of Moscowwhich started more than 4 and a half years ago.
US President Donald Trump said Washington had continued to provide intelligence to Kyiv. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that position Monday, saying he had no information about the Russian attack the night before.
Russian barrage kills 21-year-old woman
Russia’s nighttime barrage hit 28 substations and other critical energy facilities, depriving more than half a million people of electricity, heat and running water, Zelensky said on social media.
Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles at kyiv and its surrounding region, Zelenskyy said, with officials in the capital reporting that a 21-year-old woman was killed.
Ukraine received no warning from its partners before the first wave of attacks, and information about a second wave came too late for air raid sirens to be activated in time, air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck Ukrainian targets, including a data center, a logistics center storing components for drones and cruise missiles, an industrial facility manufacturing drone components and a locomotive depot where missiles are stored.
It also said it hit a bulk carrier in the Black Sea heading to Odessa and carrying supplies for Ukraine’s armed forces.
Ukraine says it has made all diplomatic efforts for peace
Trump accuses Zelensky of not wanting the war with Russia to end. Meanwhile, Washington’s efforts to bring peace have failed, including a recent truce covering energy infrastructure that Trump had demanded.
Help from Western allies has been vital to Ukraine’s defense against the Russian military, but fears have grown that Trump could turn his back on Ukraine.
Western analysts and officials say Putin believes he can wait until foreign support for Ukraine collapses and the larger Russian military will then crush Ukrainian resistance.
“Ukraine never wanted this war, and we welcomed literally EVERY attempt by our partners to end this war with dignity. We responded positively to EVERY proposal for a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said Monday on social media. “The reality is that the war continues, and it continues only because of Russian strikes and Russia’s desire to prolong this war.”
Ukraine held back Moscow’s forces on the front line and responded with long-range strikes on oil refineries in the Russian heartland, causing fuel shortages.
Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones toward Russia on Sunday one of his greatest aerial attacks of the war, burning down an oil export terminal and depot in St. Petersburg.
Some Kyiv residents shrug, but others express growing concern
Russia has sought to disrupt daily life in Ukraine by attacking trains, shopping malls, gas stations and supermarkets, among other things.
Serhii Brezhniuk, a Kyiv resident and owner of a store in a shopping center damaged on Monday, said he had become accustomed to the incessant shelling.
“This is what we see every day,” he told the Associated Press. “We got used to it.”
Alla Suska, 66, said she noticed many people walking around with bags under their eyes due to lack of sleep.
“As there are attacks every night and air alerts all day, we naturally do not have adequate rest,” she said.
Maksym Maksymovych, 44, said he felt tension rising amid the escalation in Russia. His son’s school was damaged in the attack, he said.
“You kind of get used to all these events – after all, we have lived in kyiv since the start of the war – but you can see the explosions getting closer and closer,” he said.
Suffering frontline city draws attention
Russia and Ukraine are engaged in negotiations aimed at ending the plight of those stuck in Oleshky, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said in an interview with Espreso.
Oleshky attracted worldwide attention in recent weeks when the desperate plight of his trapped civilians was revealed. There is no electricity, heat or running water in the city, which was seized by Russia on the first day of the 2022 invasion, and escaping there carries many risks due to mined roads and drone attacks. It lies across the Dnipro River from Kherson, which is held by Ukrainian troops.
Both camps blame each other for bringing the city to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Russia says Ukraine is deliberately blocking supplies and evacuations; Kyiv retorts that Moscow is indeed holding civilians hostage.
Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone with Putin on Friday and called for a ceasefire to allow aid to Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians. The Kremlin said Putin expressed support for the Vatican’s efforts to help protect the population and secure vital supplies, and expressed readiness to cooperate. Leo spoke with Zelenskyy on Monday and called for cooperation with Russia on Oleshky, the Vatican said.
Possible US-China-Russian war talks rejected by Kyiv
U.S. and Russian officials said Monday that discussions were continuing on the possibility of a trilateral meeting involving Putin, Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in China next month to try to negotiate a deal on Ukraine, without kyiv’s participation. This possibility was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Rubio said he was aware of that possibility. “I mean, I think there was some discussion about a meeting. I don’t know if anything was finalized,” he told reporters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while the prospect of such a meeting had been raised, “no substantive proposals or agreements, neither regarding the meeting itself, nor its potential agenda and content, have been discussed or put forward by anyone.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected the idea of peace talks without kyiv, saying it would embolden Putin.
“Inviting Putin to such a meeting would feed his appetite for self-aggrandizement and give him a stature he does not deserve,” Sybiha told X.
Lithuania steps up security after attempted fire at Starlink base
Lithuania has raised alert levels at more than 15 strategic infrastructure sites after an attempted arson on Sunday at a Starlink base station in Vilnius, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said on Monday.
European officials and law enforcement I warned several times that Russia is waging a hybrid war against Europe, including sabotage, arson and vandalism, as well as influence operations.
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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. AP reporter Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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