Russian bombardments across Ukraine left at least 14 people dead on Monday, just hours before President Volodymyr Zelensky was due in Washington for critical talks with US President Donald Trump.
In Kharkiv, a city close to the Russian border, a pre-dawn drone strike tore through a five-storey apartment block, collapsing part of the structure and igniting fires on several floors. Governor Oleg Synegubov reported the damage on Telegram, while Ukraine’s emergency services released footage of rescuers digging through rubble to reach survivors.
“Seven civilians, including two children, have been killed in the attack,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko confirmed, adding that another 23 people had been injured. Hours before, a ballistic missile had also struck the city, wounding at least 11 people, according to Mayor Igor Terekhov.
Elsewhere, Klymenko said three more people died and 23 were injured in Zaporizhzhia after another Russian strike. Regional prosecutors in Donetsk reported that shelling killed four people in Dobropillia and Kostiantynivka, areas still under Kyiv’s control. In the south, Odesa governor Oleg Kiper said drone strikes set a fuel depot ablaze.
The wave of attacks coincided with Zelensky’s trip to Washington, where he and several European leaders are pressing for stronger international support to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump reiterated his view that Ukraine must make concessions as part of any peace deal. “Ukraine will not be able to reclaim Crimea or join NATO,” he said, restating positions he discussed after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky, however, has consistently rejected calls to surrender Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Moscow has also floated proposals that Kyiv withdraw from the Donbas region in return for freezing frontlines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — areas where Ukraine still controls key cities.
