As the war in Ukraine approaches the three-year mark, Russia has stepped up its air attacks, sending dozens of drones almost every night.
At least three people have been reported dead following a Russian overnight drone attack in Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Friday.
According to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, drone fragments hit a ten-storey apartment building in Fastiv district, causing fire and destruction on several floors. One more person was injured and taken to hospital, Ukrainian National Police said.
The attack also damaged several private houses, a shop and three vehicles.
According to regional authorities, Russian attacks against Ukraine killed at least six people in total on Thursday.
As Russia’s all-out war approaches its three-year mark, Moscow has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine, sending dozens of drones almost every night. More than 100 Ukrainian drones also targeted various regions of Russia on Thursday night, according to Russian authorities.
Some of these reportedly targeted major Russian oil facilities, according to Ukraine’s armed forces in a post on Telegram.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight on Friday. These claims could not be independently verified by Euronews.
Zelenskyy is ‘no angel’, Trump claims
In recent days, US President Donald Trump has started pushing to end the war with a deal, threatening to impose “high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions” on Russia if a settlement isn’t reached soon.
He reiterated this intention on Thursday in his first Oval Office Interview. Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said he blamed both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the outbreak of the conflict, which began in 2014 but escalated dramatically with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“You know, I love the Russian people. They’re great people. I don’t want to do that, but we got to get this war ended,” Trump said. “And if they don’t make a settlement like fast — and Zelenskyy, I will say this, he wants to settle now. He’s had enough. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen either.”
Trump went on to describe Zelenskyy as “no angel”.
In an address delivered by video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Trump also said that oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries, could end the war by lowering oil prices, which would sap one of Russia’s crucial revenue streams.
“They should have done it long ago,” Trump said. “They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place. Millions of lives are being lost.”
Meanwhile, in his latest nightly address, Zelenskyy also argued that “energy resources and specifically oil are one of the most important keys to peace, to real security,” and called on Europe to “work more with America and other partners in the world, not with Russia, regarding energy resources.”
“We are preparing our diplomacy, our international communication, to guarantee strong positions not only for Ukraine but for all of our Europe,” he said.
Zelenskyy has held several meetings with European leaders in recent weeks about the possibility of sending NATO peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius have both indicated that their countries could provide troops for such a mission, an initiative that French President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded.
The idea has also been supported by Trump, who has blamed Europe for not taking enough responsibility for Ukraine’s security and boosted defence spending.
“The United States spent $200 billion (€190.7bn) more than Europe,” he claimed in the Fox News interview. “Why did we spend more? You know why? Because Biden never asked Europe to spend more.”
Russia has angrily opposed the prospect of Western boots on the ground, with foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying that the intervention of NATO troops is “categorically unacceptable” and “will turn into uncontrolled escalation”.
Kyiv has said that arrangements for a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy are under way, while Trump intends to meet Putin to discuss an end to the war, according to him.
