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At least 20 people were injured in a combined missile and drone attack on Kyiv overnight Tuesday, according to Ukrainian authorities, marking the latest in a series of intensified Russian assaults on the capital. The strike coincided with the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is attending. The summit, hosted by Canada as this year’s G7 chair, is scheduled to conclude Tuesday. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported that nine people were injured in the Sviatoshynskyi district, while 11 others were wounded in the Solomianskyi district. Six of the victims required hospitalization. Fires also broke out in two additional districts after debris from intercepted missiles fell, officials said. Zelenskyy, invited to the G7 summit by Canada, is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders during his visit. He was also scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, though the White House later confirmed Trump would cut his trip short and return to Washington amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Russia returns bodies of 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers under Istanbul agreement Russia has ramped up its aerial bombardments in recent weeks, launching a record number of drones and missiles. The escalation follows a bold operation by Ukraine’s Security Service, which reportedly targeted Russian warplanes stationed at air bases deep within Russian territory. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have seen little advancement. President Zelenskyy noted that direct negotiations in Istanbul have so far yielded only limited outcomes, with a prisoner swap expected to be finalized next week being one of the few tangible results.    

Russian forces launched a fresh drone assault across Ukraine overnight Wednesday, killing three people and wounding 64 more, Ukrainian officials said. One of the hardest-hit areas was the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, where 17 attack drones struck two residential districts, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Emergency crews, municipal workers and volunteers worked through the night to extinguish fires, rescue residents from burning homes, and restore gas, electricity and water services. “Those are ordinary sites of peaceful life — those that should never be targeted,” Terekhov wrote on Telegram. Three people were confirmed killed, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov. In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 64 people had been injured and reiterated his calls for greater international pressure on Moscow. "Every new day now brings new vile Russian attacks, and almost every strike is telling," he said. “We must not be afraid or postpone new decisions that could make things more difficult for Russia. Without this, they will not engage in genuine diplomacy. And this depends primarily on the United States and other world leaders. Everyone who has called for an end to the killings and for diplomacy must act.” Kharkiv has been frequently targeted in recent months as Russia launched repeated large-scale drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure. Moscow's forces have deployed high numbers of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. Russian drone and missile attacks kill 2 in Ukraine The attacks come despite discussions of a potential ceasefire. The two sides traded memoranda at direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions. However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as nonstarters make any quick deal unlikely. Wednesday's strikes also caused widespread destruction in Kharkiv's Slobidskyi and Osnovianskyi districts, hitting apartment buildings, private homes, playgrounds, industrial sites and public transport. Images from the scene published by Ukraine’s Emergency Service on Telegram showed burning apartments, shattered windows and firefighters battling the blaze. “We stand strong. We help one another. And we will endure,” Terekhov said. “Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken.” Ukraine's airforce said that 85 attack and decoy drones were fired over the country overnight. Air defense systems intercepted 40 of the drones, while nine more failed to reach their targets without causing damage.

A large Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring 21, local officials said. The barrage — the latest in near daily widescale attacks — included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the three-year war. According to AP, the intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days — especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down and neutralized 87 drones and seven missiles. Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. “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. Israel hits Southern Beirut suburbs, claims Hezbollah drone sites targeted There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the latest attack. Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said it was “the most powerful attack” on the city since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kharkiv’s regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said two districts in the city were struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. Among the injured were two children, a month and a half old boy and a 14-year old girl, he added. The attack on Kharkiv comes one day after Russia launched one of the fiercest barrages on Ukraine, striking six Ukrainian territories and killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. US President Donald Trump said this week that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine’s attack on Russian military airfields last Sunday. Trump also said that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump’s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.

Russia overnight into Sunday launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022, after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years failed to yield a ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations — although not at the presidential level — as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the US. Talks in Istanbul on Friday broke up after less than two hours without a ceasefire, although both sides agreed on exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations. Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchange could happen as early as next week. US President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Putin, and will then speak to Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine. Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelenskyy, on Monday to push for Ukraine ceasefire Russia fired a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Of those, 88 were intercepted and a further 128 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. The attacks targeted the country's Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. Yuriy Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force, told The Associated Press that the barrage was the biggest drone attack since the start of the full-scale invasion. Russia’s previous largest known single drone attack was on the eve of the war’s third anniversary, when Russia pounded Ukraine with 267 drones. Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said a a 28-year-old woman was killed in a drone attack on the region and three other people, including a 4-year-old child, were wounded. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight, and a further 18 on Sunday morning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that his country is committed to ending the war with Russia but he urged dozens of European leaders to ramp up sanctions if President Vladimir Putin continues to play for time in talks aimed at securing a truce. Russia and Ukraine were holding their first direct peace talks in three years, in the Turkish port city of Istanbul, but officials and observers expected them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than three-year war, AP reports.  Russia-Ukraine war is top of the agenda as European leaders meet in Albania on security concerns “Ukraine is ready to take all realistic steps to end this war,” Zelenskyy told leaders gathered for a summit of the European Political Community. But he warned: “If it turns out that the Russian delegation really is just theatrical and can’t deliver any results today, the world must respond.” That reaction, he said, should include "sanctions against Russia’s energy sector and banks.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed his call, saying in a summit speech that “Russia is dragging its feet and playing games.” “We must be prepared to follow through because if Russia won’t come to the negotiating table, Putin must pay the price,” he said, at the summit in the Albanian capital, Tirana. Zelenskyy's remarks came after Putin declined to attend face-to-face talks. “I think Putin made a mistake by sending a low level delegation,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said as he arrived for the summit under a steady drizzle. “The ball is clearly in his part of the field now, in his court. He has to play ball. He has to be serious about wanting peace," Rutte added. European Union foreign chief Kaja Kallas said Putin was “playing games, which shows that they are not serious about peace.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was clear that “President Zelenskyy was ready to meet but President Putin never showed up, and this shows his true belief. So we will increase the pressure.” Von der Leyen said the EU is preparing a new package of sanctions. She said that the measures will target the shadow fleet of aging cargo vessels that Russia is using to bypass international sanctions and the Nord Stream pipeline consortium. Russia’s financial sector would also be targeted, she said. EU envoys have been working on the new sanctions package for several weeks, and the bloc’s foreign ministers could enact them as soon as Tuesday.  Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first peace talks in 3 years Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni stressed that efforts to reach a deal on Ukraine must continue. “I think ... that we must not throw in the towel. I think we must insist, we must insist for an unconditional ceasefire and a serious peace agreement that includes guarantees of security for Ukraine,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the leaders of dozens of European countries and organizations for a one-day summit in Albania's capital Friday to discuss security and defense challenges across the continent, with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the top of the agenda. On the eve of the summit in Tirana, Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey to try to secure a ceasefire with Moscow, sending a low-level delegation instead. European leaders criticize Putin's decision not to met Zelenskyy “I think Putin made a mistake by sending a low level delegation,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said as he arrived for the summit under a steady drizzle. “The ball is clearly in his part of the field now, in his court. He has to play ball. He has to be serious about wanting peace. So I think all the pressure is now on Putin,” Rutte added. Zelenskyy did not make any comments as he arrived for the summit, walking with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama along the red carpet past the gathered media. European Union foreign chief Kaja Kallas said Putin was “playing games, which shows that they are not serious about peace.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was clear that “President Zelenskyy was ready to meet but President Putin never showed up, and this shows his true belief. So we will increase the pressure.” Von der Leyen said the EU is preparing a new package of sanctions. She said that the measures will target the shadow fleet of aging cargo vessels that Russia is using to bypass international sanctions and the Nord Stream pipeline consortium. Russia’s financial sector would also be targeted, she said. EU envoys have been working on the new sanctions package for several weeks, and the bloc’s foreign ministers could enact them as soon as Tuesday. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni stressed that efforts to reach a deal on Ukraine must continue. Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first peace talks in 3 years “I think ... that we must not throw in the towel. I think we must insist, we must insist for an unconditional ceasefire and a serious peace agreement that includes guarantees of security for Ukraine,” she said. The spurning of the offer for direct talks with Zelenskyy “is clear evidence that Putin doesn’t seriously want peace. He’s dragging his heels,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “And that’s why today is a really important opportunity, to work with colleagues to make sure that we are absolutely united.” Summit a chance for bilateral meetings The theme of the European Political Community, or EPC, summit in Tirana is “New Europe in a new world: unity — cooperation — joint action.” The gathering of leaders from about 50 nations and organizations will also address ways to improve the continent’s competitiveness and tackle unauthorized migration. But the EPC will also be a setting for leaders to meet bilaterally, or in small groups, to weigh in on major security issues. The inaugural summit in Prague in 2022 saw the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia holding rare talks in an effort to ease tensions between the longtime adversaries. Last weekend, Zelenskyy hosted French President Emmanuel Macron, Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv, where they made a joint call for a 30-day end to hostilities. “As Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, its consequences stretch far beyond Ukraine’s borders, straining our security and testing our collective resilience,” Albania's Rama and European Council President António Costa wrote in their EPC summit invitation letter. The last summit, hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ardent supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, was dominated by the concerns and opportunities that might arise in the wake of Trump's reelection. The leaders arrived in Tirana’s central Skanderbeg Square on a rainy morning and were to be greeted by a brief performance by dancers in folk costumes before heading into the temporary conference hall, set up at the foot of a monument to Albania's national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu, or Skanderbeg, who fought against the Ottoman Empire. Albania hosts a major summit days after election Rama's governing Socialist Party won Albania’s May 11 parliamentary election, attracting voters who support the country’s long and somewhat uphill effort to join the European Union. The vote secured a fourth term for Rama. The prime minister said that the summit is a point of pride for Albania, and an “inspiration and motivation to continue further on.” His Socialist Party says it can deliver EU membership in five years. The EPC forum is Macron's brainchild, and was backed by former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, aiming to boost security and prosperity across the continent. But critics claimed it was an attempt by them to put the brakes on EU enlargement. The 2022 inaugural summit involved the EU's 27 member countries, aspiring partners in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as well as neighbors like the U.K. — the only country to have left the EU — and Turkey. Russia is the one major European power not invited, along with Belarus, its neighbor and supporter in the war with Ukraine. The next EPC meeting will take place in Denmark later this year.  54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city amid Trump's Mideast trip

Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first face-to-face peace talks in three years on Friday, convening in Istanbul under Turkish mediation. However, both officials and analysts anticipate little progress in halting the war, which has now stretched into its fourth year. Ukraine’s delegation, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, is expected to meet a lower-level Russian team headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.  Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks The renewed attempt to revive peace talks began on a shaky note Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin declined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer for direct talks. The two delegations also arrived in different Turkish cities and appeared mismatched in terms of diplomatic representation. While expectations were low for a possible Zelenskyy-Putin meeting, the sluggish momentum of the peace process dashed hopes of a breakthrough in Turkey. The two sides remain deeply divided on terms for ending the conflict. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump, during a visit to the Middle East, said a meeting between him and Putin was essential to overcome the stalemate. Ukraine has accepted a 30-day comprehensive ceasefire proposal backed by the U.S. and Europe, but Putin has dismissed it, instead laying out broad preconditions. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials and Western military analysts report that Russia is preparing for a renewed military offensive. After Putin declined Zelenskyy’s invitation to meet in Ankara on Thursday, the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of not being genuinely interested in ending the war, criticizing Russia’s delegation as merely symbolic. Nonetheless, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would still send a delegation led by his defense minister to the Istanbul talks, as a signal to Trump that Kyiv remains committed to peace despite Russia’s apparent reluctance. According to the Kremlin, Russia’s delegation will include three additional senior officials, along with four junior “experts” assigned to the discussions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated he would meet Friday in Istanbul with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Ukrainian delegation. He also noted that members of the U.S. team would hold talks with the Russian side, expressing hope that all parties might eventually sit down together. “We’re not expecting major results tomorrow. Honestly, it’s clear by now that a real breakthrough would require a direct meeting between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters Thursday in Antalya. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy traveled to Albania to participate in a summit of European political leaders scheduled for Friday.  Russian House in Dhaka celebrates the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War

Russia launched 10 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, in its smallest drone bombardment this year as the warring countries prepare for possible peace talks in Turkey. The Kremlin hasn’t directly responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s challenge for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him in person at the negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused for the second straight day Tuesday to tell reporters whether Putin will travel to Istanbul and who else will represent Russia at the potential talks. “As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will make an announcement,” Peskov said. Russia declares a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine marking Victory Day in World War II Russia has said it will send a delegation to Istanbul without preconditions. The U.S. has been applying stiff pressure on both sides to come to the table since President Donald Trump came to power in January with a promise to end the war. Military analysts say both sides are preparing a spring-summer campaign on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Monday that Russia is “quickly replenishing front-line units with new recruits to maintain the battlefield initiative.”  Russia launches nearly 150 drones against Ukraine Zelenskyy will not be meeting with any Russian officials in Istanbul other than Putin, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said Tuesday on a YouTube show run by prominent Russian journalists in exile. Lower-level talks would amount to simply “dragging out” any peace process, Podolyak said. European leaders have recently accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he attempts to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. Russia effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire demanded by Ukraine and Western European leaders from Monday, when it fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine. Putin instead offered direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday. Russia shunned the ceasefire proposal tabled by the U.S. and European leaders but offered direct talks with Ukraine. Putin has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government, especially Zelenskyy himself, saying his term expired last year. Under Ukraine’s constitution, it is illegal for the country to hold national elections while it’s under martial law, as it now is. In a further complication, a Ukrainian decree from 2022 rules out negotiations with Putin. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Monday with the top diplomats from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, who were meeting in London, to assess “the way forward for a ceasefire and path to peace in Ukraine,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. Those European countries had pledged further sanctions on Russia if it didn’t comply with a full ceasefire that Ukraine had accepted from Monday, but they made no announcement of additional punitive measures.  Trump says Zelenskyy is prolonging war in Ukraine by resisting calls to cede Crimea to Russia

All four international airports around Moscow temporarily suspended flights Tuesday as Russian forces intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen Russian regions, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said. Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia's civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the Defense Ministry, AP reports. The Moscow region was later attacked for a second time, with the capital's major airports of Vnukovo and Domodedovo forced to ground flights again, while the city's air defenses intercepted three drones, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The drone assaults threatened a planned unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II. The day celebrating Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russia’s biggest secular holiday. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and others will gather in the Russian capital on Thursday for the 80th anniversary and watch a parade featuring thousands of troops accompanied by tanks and missiles. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry urged foreign countries not to send military representatives to take part in the parade, as some have in the past. None is officially confirmed for this year’s event. Israel launches airstrikes on Yemen a day after Houthi rebels strike Israeli airport Ukraine will regard the participation of foreign military personnel as “an affront to the memory of the victory over Nazism, to the memory of millions of Ukrainian front-line soldiers who liberated our country and all of Europe from Nazism eight decades ago,” a statement on the ministry’s website said. Security is expected to be tight. Russian officials have warned that internet access could be restricted in Moscow during the celebrations and have told residents not to set off fireworks. Putin last week declared the brief unilateral truce “on humanitarian grounds” from May 8. Ukraine has demanded a longer ceasefire. Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by insisting on far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted that proposal, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.

All Ukrainian troops have been forced from Russia's Kursk region, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff for Russia’s Armed Forces, gave Russian President Vladimir Putin the news in a meeting Saturday, Peskov told Russian state news outlet Interfax. Ukrainian officials have not commented on the claim, reports AP. In a statement, Putin congratulated the Russian soldiers and commanders and said that Kyiv’s incursion had “completely failed”. “The complete defeat of our enemy along Kursk’s border region creates the right conditions for further successes for our troops and in other important areas of the front," he said. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Vatican City on the sidelines of the pope's funeral. The presidents met at St Peter’s Basilica for about 15 minutes and agreed to continue negotiations later on Saturday, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also confirmed the meeting and said they “met privately today and had a very productive discussion.” Adieu to Pope Francis:  Global leaders unite in Vatican for historic funeral Shortly after arriving in Rome last Friday, Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high-level talks” on ending the three-year war sparked by Russia’s invasion. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Friday, and Trump said both sides were “very close to a deal.” Meanwhile, in a statement Friday night, Zelenskyy said that “very significant meetings may take place” in coming days, and that an unconditional ceasefire was needed. “Real pressure on Russia is needed so that they accept either the American proposal to cease fire and move towards peace, or our proposal — whichever one can truly work and ensure a reliable, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire, and then — a dignified peace and security guarantees,” he said. “Diplomacy must succeed. And we are doing everything to make diplomacy truly meaningful and finally effective.” Three people were killed overnight by Russian attacks across Ukraine, local officials also said.