Russia intensifies strikes in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expanding his strikes on Ukrainian cities, threatening escalation against Kyiv’s backers and pressing for further military gains in defiance of President Trump’s deadlines to enter serious peace talks.

Ukrainian citizens have suffered an uptick in deadly missile and drone strikes in the wake of an inconclusive summit between President Trump and Russian President Putin in Alaska last month.

Russian drone attacks on power facilities in northern and southern Ukraine overnight left nearly 60,000 customers without electricity, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowing to retaliate by ordering more strikes deep inside Russia.

“We will continue our active operations in exactly the way needed for Ukraine’s defence. The forces and resources are prepared. New deep strikes have also been planned,” Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X after meeting Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, without giving further details of the plans.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said Russian drones had attacked four energy facilities in the Odesa region during the night, and local authorities reported that 29,000 people were left without electricity early on Sunday.

Hardest hit was the port city of Chornomorsk, just outside Odesa, where houses and administrative buildings were also damaged, said Oleh Kiper, the governor of the broader Odesa region.

Russian drones also targeted Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region early on Sunday, damaging energy infrastructure and leaving 30,000 households without electricity, including part of the city of Nizhyn, said Viacheslav Chaus, the local governor.

The Ukrainian military said Russia had attacked Ukraine with 142 drones overnight and that its air defence forces managed to shoot down 126 of them. However, the drones struck 10 locations.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had hit Ukrainian port infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, that it said was used for military purposes. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

The intensified fighting by both sides in recent weeks comes as President Donald Trump leads a push to end the war, which began in February 2022, when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that European powers were hindering Trump’s peace efforts and that Russia would continue its operation in Ukraine until Moscow saw real signs that Kyiv was ready for peace.

This is only the latest of recent Russian attacks on Ukraine since the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, and there doesn’t seem to be any peace deal coming anytime soon. The Trump administration might need to reckon with the fact that the way things are going benefits Russia, and change strategy accordingly.