Children Among Dead as Russia Bombards Ukraine Hours After Trump-Putin Summit Shelved

At least seven people, including two children, have been killed and dozens more wounded after Russian missile and drone strikes pummeled several Ukrainian cities overnight, hours after plans for a high-profile Trump-Putin summit were abruptly shelved.

A kindergarten in Kharkiv was among the targets hit in the latest wave of attacks, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as proof that Moscow “still faces too little pressure” over its ongoing war. Ukrainian officials say at least 27 people were injured, many of them child

The renewed escalation came shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that his planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest had been postponed, describing it as a “wasted meeting” given the lack of progress toward a ceasefire.

The Kremlin, however, disputed Trump’s claim, saying preparations for the summit were still underway. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that the talks remained a “mutual desire” and dismissed Western reports of a cancellation as “gossip and rumours.”

Trump and several European leaders have called for a ceasefire along the current front lines, but Moscow has rejected the proposal outright.

Speaking from Oslo, where he began a European visit on Wednesday, Zelensky suggested the summit’s postponement was tied to his failure to secure long-range Tomahawk missiles from Washington during talks with Trump last week.

“The idea of freezing the front line sounds like a good compromise, but I told the president I don’t believe Putin will honour it,” Zelensky said. “Once long-range missiles were off the table for us, Russia lost interest in diplomacy.

Ukraine’s overnight ordeal came just hours after its military claimed to have launched a successful UK-supplied Storm Shadow missile strike on a Russian chemical plant in Bryansk, near the border.

Officials said the facility produced explosives and rocket fuel components used in Russia’s weapons manufacturing. Kyiv described the attack as “a successful hit” that broke through Russian air defences.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 405 drones and 28 missiles, including 15 ballistic missiles, across multiple regions. It was the first major bombardment of Kyiv in over two weeks.

A couple in their 60s were killed when a drone slammed into their apartment building, while four others — including a six-month-old baby and a 12-year-old girl — died in the wider Kyiv region.

In Kharkiv, local authorities confirmed that a 40-year-old man was killed and several children were injured when a drone struck a kindergarten. Emergency teams evacuated dozens of terrified children from the rubble.

Across the country, energy infrastructure was again targeted, forcing emergency blackouts in severa

Kyiv MP Inna Sovsun told BBC Newsday that residents endured hours of explosions overnight.
“For most of us, it means no electricity and no water,” she said. “This was clearly an attack on our power supply.”

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has entered its third year with little sign of peace. The latest strikes — coming just as diplomatic efforts falter — signal Moscow’s continued defiance of Western pressure and a chilling reminder of Ukraine’s daily vulnerability.