Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised new strikes in the Russian interior a day after Moscow carried out a fresh wave of bombardments in southeastern Ukraine, as the war showed no signs of slowing despite U.S. efforts.
Mr. Zelenskyy on Sunday shared a report from Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi saying Ukrainian forces had managed to “methodically destroy the occupier” in the Donetsk region, where most of the intense fighting is concentrated.
The Ukrainian president said Russians had sustained 290,000 casualties through the first eight months of the year in the battle-ravaged eastern section of the country.
Military leaders further assessed the damage of Russian strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region overnight Friday into Saturday.
One woman was killed and 30 other people were wounded in the assault. Mr. Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 500 drones and 45 missiles across 14 regions of Ukraine.
“We will continue our active operations in exactly the way needed for Ukraine’s defense,” Mr. Zelenskyy posted Sunday on X. “The forces and resources are prepared. New deep strikes have also been planned.”
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Ukraine pulled off multiple strikes this summer that damaged dozens of valuable fighter jets and strategic bombers at Russian airfields far from the battlefield.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was greeted Sunday by Chinese President Xi Jinping for a security summit on countering Western influence on the global stage.
Chinese state media touted the relations between China and Russia as the “best in history.” Mr. Xi hosted the summit, in part, to improve Russia’s reputation amid what Mr. Putin called “discriminatory” sanctions.
Western sanctions and expenses related to the war threaten to push Russia’s economy into a recession.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un may join the gathering in Beijing this week for talks with his Chinese and Russian counterparts.
Russian forces pounded Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Thursday with strikes that killed 23 people, including four children, and damaged diplomatic buildings belonging to the European Union and British Council.
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No diplomatic staff were injured in the attack.
European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, roundly condemned the barrage.
“Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace,” he said. “This bloodshed must end.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “outraged” by the assault and reiterated: “This is why we are keeping maximum pressure on Russia.”
The European Union is weighing a proposal to move $230 billion of frozen Russian assets into other investments that can generate more interest. The money would be used to help fund the Ukrainian war effort.
The Trump administration is reportedly feeling icy toward European leaders’ meddling in peace talks over the war, which has dragged on since February 2022.
White House officials say European power brokers are urging Ukraine to hold off on negotiations to secure territorial concessions from Russia, according to Axios.
“The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost,” a top White House official told the news outlet. “If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed the “European party of war” for derailing Mr. Trump’s and Russia’s efforts to bring an end to the fighting.
“We are ready to resolve the problem by political and diplomatic means,” Mr. Peskov told Russian state media. “But so far, we do not see reciprocity from Kyiv in this. So we shall continue the special military operation.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said Mr. Trump may have been “played” by Mr. Putin if Russia and Ukraine don’t meet the White House’s Monday deadline to schedule the peace talks.
Mr. Trump, who hosted Mr. Putin at a summit in Alaska in August with an eye toward peace, said last week regarding the stalled talks that “Everybody is posturing. It’s all bull——.”
Disagreements over land swaps have been sticking points in the wartime negotiations.
Russian leaders want to preserve their territorial gains in the conflict, particularly in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Zelenskyy has been adamant about denying Russia those gains for fear of rewarding and potentially encouraging the aggressor.
How much territory Russia has gained in recent months is up for debate.
Valery Gerasimov, the Russian army’s chief of general staff, said Saturday that Russian forces had captured more than 1,300 square miles and taken nearly 150 Ukrainian villages since March in a grinding advance through the eastern and southern regions.
Ukrainian leaders countered that Russia’s military has not gained control over any major city.
“The figures presented by the occupiers regarding captured territories and settlements are grossly exaggerated,” Ukrainian military officials said.
In the backdrop of the war was the deadly shooting Saturday of Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Parubiy.
Mr. Zelenskyy said an assailant shot the former parliamentary speaker in Lviv several times at point-blank range in a “horrific murder.”
The prosecutor general’s office announced a manhunt for the assassin.
Mr. Parubiy, 54, was parliamentary speaker from 2016 to 2019 and a major player in the anti-Russia Maidan revolution of 2013, which sought to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union.
