Russian strikes kill three in Ukraine ahead of White House talks

An overnight Russian drone strike on Kharkiv killed three people, including a child, and wounded more than a dozen others, Ukrainian authorities said Monday.

“As of now, three people are known to have died, including a small child. 18 people were wounded, including children,” Kharkiv region police wrote on Telegram.

The police warned that people may be trapped under the rubble of a five-storey apartment building hit in the pre-dawn attack.

The city near the Russian border was also hit hours earlier by a ballistic missile that wounded at least 11 people, Mayor Igor Terekhov said.

Early Monday, Russian strikes also pummelled the Sumy region, near the border, wounding two.

Head of the regional military administration, Oleg Grygorov, said a bomb and then a drone wounded a 57-year-old woman and a 43-year-old driver.

The latest aerial attacks come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies are expected in Washington for talks aimed at ending the war.

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Just ahead of Zelensky’s arrival in the US capital, US President Donald Trump said reclaiming Crimea or entering NATO were off the table for Ukraine.

Zelensky has repeatedly pushed back against pressure to cede the territory currently occupied by Russia, which comprises around 20 per cent of Ukraine.

Russia has recently made further territorial gains, mainly in the east of Ukraine, while proposing that Ukraine leave Donbas in exchange for freezing the frontline in the Black Sea port of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where the main cities are still under Kyiv’s control.

AFP