A Russian drone strike on the major Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed four people and wounded 17 on Sunday, its mayor said. “At this moment, 17 people are known to have been wounded. Four people have died,” Igor Terekhov said, reporting the evening strike in a message on Telegram. The attack came as US, Ukrainian and European officials were in Geneva to discuss a proposal to end the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine.
Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, described the attack as “massive”. The emergency services said the drone strike on two districts of Kharkiv had caused fires and the destruction of buildings. “Three residential buildings and an infrastructure facility were on fire,” it said.
Top US and Ukrainian officials said on Sunday they had made progress towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war but provided scant details after discussing the American proposal to achieve peace that has sparked concerns among many of Washington’s European allies that the plan is too conciliatory to Moscow. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said high-stakes talks in Geneva were “very worthwhile” and constituted the most productive day in “a very long time”. “I feel very optimistic that we can get something done.”
The White House said talks in Switzerland on a proposal to end the Ukraine war marked a “significant step forward”, and reaffirmed that any eventual deal would “fully uphold” the war-wracked country’s sovereignty. A joint US-Ukraine statement released by Washington after the meeting in Geneva said: “As a result of the discussions, the parties drafted an updated and refined peace framework.”
Europeans have submitted a modified version of the US’s peace plan for Ukraine that pushes back on proposed limits to Kyiv’s armed forces and territorial concessions, according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday. The document, prepared for talks on the plan in Geneva, proposes that Ukraine’s military be capped at 800,000 “in peacetime” rather than a blanket cap of 600,000 proposed by the US plan.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought to win back Donald Trump’s favour after the US leader blasted at Kyiv. The US president, who is known for blowing hot and cold on Ukraine, earlier said on his Truth Social platform that Ukraine’s leadership “EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS”, referring to his plan to end the conflict, which adhered to some of Moscow’s demands. A few hours later, Zelenskyy wrote on X: “Ukraine is grateful to the United States, to every American heart, and personally to President Trump for the assistance that – starting with the Javelins – has been saving Ukrainian lives.”
