Sawt Falasteen - Zelensky urges more Western pressure on Putin after deadly Russian attack

Russia has rained down aerial strikes on Ukrainian cities despite US President Donald Trump's push for a ceasefire and even as Moscow talks up the importance of ending the conflict ignited by its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The latest attack saw Russian missiles and drones rip through buildings in the Ukrainian capital, blasting a five-storey crater in an apartment block and leaving four children among the dead, authorities said.

In an virtual meeting after the strikes, Zelensky urged European allies to "keep the pressure" on the Russian president to bring him to the negotiating table, his office said in a statement.

"Putin has not done what he said. It's time to move. We need a strong joint signal," Zelensky said, adding: "Only at the level of leaders can the war truly be ended."

He pressed attendees -- including the leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Denmark -- to detail the guarantees they would give to maintain peace in Ukraine after the war, the statement said.

"Europe must not miss this opportunity -– it should define real foundations for joint action," Zelensky said.

Trump "will also expect this from you -– that every country in Europe clearly defines its contribution", he added.

Asked about the strikes, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump "was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised".

The European Union mission, a British government cultural building and two media outlets' offices were also damaged, setting off international protests.

AFP reporters saw rescuers carrying several victims away from the apartment block in body bags throughout the day as they sifted through the smouldering rubble.

"Glass was flying... we were screaming when the bombs went off," Galina Shcherbak, who was at a parking lot close to one of the strikes, told AFP.

Ukraine's air force said Moscow fired 629 drones and missiles. That would make it the second-largest overnight barrage of the war, according to AFP analysis of Kyiv's data.

Andriy, whose flat was destroyed in the strike, told AFP he had only just made it out alive.

"If I had gone to the shelter a minute later, I would not be here now, I would have been buried," he said.

A "rare" maritime drone attack by Russia on a Ukrainian naval forces vessel in the Black Sea also killed at least one and left several people wounded or missing, a Ukraine navy spokesperson said.

- 'Diplomacy ruined' -

Zelensky called the attack on Kyiv "a horrific and deliberate killing of civilians" and called for fresh sanctions on Moscow.

His top aides are set to meet with Trump's team on Friday in New York.

The Kremlin, which claimed to have targeted military sites, insisted it was still interested in diplomacy but that its strikes would "continue".

"The Russian armed forces are fulfilling their tasks," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question by AFP.

"They continue to strike military and military-adjacent infrastructure facilities."

The European Union and the British government summoned Russia's ambassadors after the barrage damaged buildings of the EU's mission and the British Council in Kyiv.

Inside the EU mission, AFP reporters saw blown-out windows and partially collapsed ceiling panels.

French President Emmanuel Macron slammed Russian "terror and barbarism", saying on X: "This is Russia's idea of peace."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of "sabotaging hopes of peace", while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said "Russia showed its true face" with the strikes.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen spoke with both Zelensky and Trump following the attacks, insisting afterwards that "Putin must come to the negotiating table".

- Stuttering diplomacy -

Following a summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska earlier this month, the Kremlin has rebuffed attempts to reach a swift end to the fighting.

It has also ruled out Putin meeting with Zelensky any time soon.

Charles Kushner, the US ambassador to France, insisted in an interview with a French television station that Trump has made progress on ending the war while the Europeans "have accomplished nothing".

Moscow is demanding Kyiv cede more territory and renounce Western military support as conditions for any peace deal -- ultimatums ruled out by Ukraine.

Russian forces said Thursday they had captured another small settlement in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a steady advance.

Ukraine wants guarantees including Western troop deployments before concluding any peace agreement, but Moscow has pushed back against any Western military presence in Ukraine.

Kyiv meanwhile said it had hit two large refineries in Russia in its own overnight attacks -- strikes it calls fair retaliation.

L.Hussein--SF-PST