Russia launches strikes across Ukraine as peace prospects flounder

Russia launched "massive" strikes across Ukraine overnight, rescue services said on Saturday, a new blow to peace efforts that drew a fresh appeal from President Volodymyr Zelensky for U.S. and European help.

Despite a recent flurry of international efforts to broker a truce in the three-and-a-half-year conflict, led by U.S. President Donald Trump, there have been no signs of a let-up in fighting on the ground.

Ukrainian rescue services said on Telegram that overnight strikes on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia had killed at least one person and wounded at least 25.

Three children aged between nine and 16 were admitted to the hospital.

Russia confirmed it had launched overnight attacks, saying they were against "military" targets.

Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov said residential buildings were hit and scores of homes were left without gas or electricity.

The cities of Dnipro and Pavlograd in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk also came under attack early on Saturday, causing fires, regional governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Dnipropetrovsk had been largely spared from intense fighting.

Ukraine's air force said the Russian army had launched 582 drones and missiles overnight, most of which it had downed.

Zelensky, who has been pushing for a peace summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said a total of 14 regions had been targeted overnight.

He accused the Kremlin of using "the time meant for preparing a leaders' level (peace) meeting to organize new massive attacks," and called for more international sanctions on Moscow and its backers.

Ukraine's army general staff, meanwhile, said its forces had hit two oil refineries in Russia, which it said were supplying fuel to Russian military units.

It said they had struck the Krasnodarsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai and the Sizransky refinery in Samara, causing a fire near the latter.

Russia, for its part, said its forces had taken a new village, Komyshuvakha, in the eastern Donetsk region.

AFP