Russia bombards Kyiv before ‘frank’ talks with US and aid pledges

Two killed, 26 wounded in Russian attack on Kyiv. (Reuters)

• Rubio meets Lavrov in Malaysia, voices frustration

KYIV/ROME: Russia unleashed heavy airstrikes on Ukraine on Thursday before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, and US-Russian talks at which Washington voiced frustration with Moscow over the war.

Two people were killed, 26 were wounded, according to figures from the national emergency services, and there was damage in nearly every part of Kyiv from missile and drone attacks on the capital and other parts of Ukraine. Addressing the Rome conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction after more than three years of war, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged allies to “more actively” use Russian assets for rebuilding and called for weapons, joint defense production and investment.

Participants pledged over 10 billion euros  to help rebuild Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, announced 2.3 billion euros  in support.

US President Donald Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress toward ending the war raging since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and has accused the Russian president of throwing a lot of “bullshit” at US efforts to end the conflict.

At talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while in Malaysia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had reinforced the message that Moscow should show more flexibility.

“We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” Rubio said, adding that the Trump administration had been engaging with the US Senate on what new sanctions on Russia might look like.

“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Rubio said after the 50-minute talks in Kuala Lumpur. Moscow’s foreign ministry said they had shared “a substantive and frank exchange of views.”

Zelensky said Thursday’s assault by Russia had involved around 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital.

Explosions and anti-aircraft fire rattled the city. Windows were blown out, facades ravaged and cars burned to shells. In the city center, an apartment in an eight-story building was engulfed in flames.

“This is terror because it happens every night when people are asleep,” said Karyna Volf, a 25-year-old Kyiv resident who rushed out of her apartment moments before it was showered with shards of glass.

Air defenses stopped all but a few dozen of the drones, authorities said, a day after Russia launched a record 728 drones at Ukraine.

Escalating Russian strikes in recent weeks have strained Ukraine’s defenses at a time when its troops are facing renewed pressure on the front line, and forced residents in Kyiv and across the country into bomb shelters.

Russia’s defense ministry said it had hit “military-industrial” targets in Kyiv as well as military airfields. It denies targeting civilians although towns and cities have been hit regularly in the war and thousands have been killed.

Moscow’s mayor later said Russian air defenses had brought down four Ukrainian drones bound for the Russian capital.

In Kursk region in western Russia, the acting governor said a Ukrainian drone had killed a man in his own home, two days after four people died in a drone attack on the city’s beach.

In Rome, Zelensky urged European allies to make more use of Russian assets frozen during the war for reconstruction. He was also seeking critical weapons, joint defense production and investment.

After a pledge by Trump this week to send more defensive weaponry to Kyiv, Washington has resumed deliveries of shells and precision artillery missiles, two US officials said.

Trump has also signalled willingness to send more Patriot air-defense missiles, which have proven critical to defending against fast-moving Russian ballistic missiles.

Speaking in Rome, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Trump to “stay with us” in backing Ukraine and Europe. He said Germany was prepared to buy Patriot air defense systems from the US and provide them to Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was relaxed about Trump’s criticism and would keep trying to fix “broken” relations with Washington.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied there was a slowdown in normalizing ties and said new consultations would be arranged “in the near future.”