Sawt Falasteen - Russian drone attacks on Ukraine hit all-time record in July

Russian attacks have killed hundreds of Ukrainian civilians since June.

A combined missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Thursday killed 31 people, including five children, said rescuers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said Friday that he wanted peace but that his demands for ending the nearly three-and-a-half year invasion were "unchanged".

Those demands include that Ukraine withdraw from territory it already controls and drop its NATO ambitions forever.

"The main thing is to eradicate the causes that gave rise to this crisis," Putin told reporters alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries," Putin said.

- Flowers for the children -

In Kyiv, residents held a day of mourning for the 31 killed on Thursday, most of whom were in a nine-storey apartment block torn open by a missile.

AFP journalists at the scene on Friday saw rescue workers pulling bodies from the debris.

Iryna Drozd, a 28-year-old mother-of-three, was laying flowers at the site to commemorate the five children killed.

The youngest, whose lifeless body was found early Friday, was two years old.

"These are flowers because children died. We brought flowers because we have children. Our children live across the street from here," she told AFP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who announced rescue operations had ended on Friday, said later that only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders.

"The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia's readiness," he wrote on X.

- 'We can wait' -

Putin made no mention of a possible meeting with Zelensky in his comments to reporters Friday, and suggested Kyiv was not ready for further negotiations.

"We can wait if the Ukrainian leadership believes that now is not the time," he said.

He said Russian troops were advancing "along the entire front line", and that Moscow had started mass producing "Oreshnik" -- a nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile that Moscow first fired on Ukraine last year.

The Kremlin has consistently rejected a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying in July it saw no immediate diplomatic way out of its nearly three-and-a-half year invasion.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine, suggesting that new sanctions against Moscow were coming.

"Russia -- I think it's disgusting what they're doing. I think it's disgusting," Trump told journalists.

Trump also said he would send his special envoy Steve Witkoff, currently in Israel, to visit Russia next.

On Tuesday, the US leader issued a 10-day ultimatum for Moscow to halt its invasion, now in its fourth year, or face sanctions.

- 'Depraved' -

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described Thursday's attacks as "depraved" on Friday and posted a picture of the bloc's flag at half mast.

"More weapons for Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia are the fastest way to end the war. Getting more air defenses to Ukraine fast is our priority," she added in a post.

Germany has already delivered three Patriot systems to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

H.Darwish--SF-PST