Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a wave of missile attacks towards Ukrainian cities late on Aug. 17, mere hours before President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to meet for peace talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported around 11 p.m. local time that a missile had struck a residential building in Khakiv.
Terekhov said that initial reports indicate that there are casualties as a result of the attack. No information was immediately available on the extent of the damage caused.
Explosions were also heard in Sumy around 10:45 p.m. local time. Oleh Hryhorov, the governor of the Sumy Oblast, said that a missile had struck civillian infrastructure in Sumy. No casualties have been reported, however, damage had been incurred as a result of the attack.
Ukraine’s Air Force has also warned of glide bomb attacks along Ukraine’s front line regions as well as the threat of drone swarms across the country.
The Russian attack comes as Zelensky will visit Washington on Aug. 18 for peace talks with Trump, alongside European leaders.
The visit comes days after Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, to which Zelensky was not invited. While Trump said he and Putin “made some headway” in peace talks, the summit saw no agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
The New York Times reported, citing European officials, that Putin outlined a peace plan that would involve Ukraine ceding unoccupied territory in exchange for Moscow’s written promise not to invade again.
Despite Trump touting the progress of peace talks in recent days, the U.S. president has previously expressed frustration with Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities amid ongoing peace negotiations with Kyiv.
“I’ve gotten to see things I was very surprised at. Rockets being shot into cities like Kyiv during a negotiation that was maybe very close to ending,” Trump said during a news conference in the Oval Office on May 30.
“All of a sudden rockets got shot into a couple of cities and people died. I saw thing I was surprised at and I don’t like being surprised, so I’m very disappointed in that way,” Trump added.
Russia has increased its intensities of attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months amid ongoing peace negotiations, attempting to gain more leverage at the negotiating table and pressure Ukraine into an unfavorable peace deal.
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