TRUMP SILENCE IS DEAFING
Russia bombs US factory in one of war’s largest attacks
NOT EVEN A SABRE RATTLE
Kieran Kelly
Credit: zakarpattya_online
The assault came just days after Vladimir Putin travelled to Alaska to meet US president Donald Trump to lay out his terms for peace, which include Ukraine withdrawing from the entire Donetsk region.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said the attack was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.
He said Moscow had shown no signs of pursuing meaningful peace negotiations and urged Ukraine’s allies to respond with stronger pressure, including further sanctions and tariffs.
Russia “wasted several cruise missiles against an American business”, Mr Zelensky said, noting it was a regular civilian enterprise producing domestic utilities, such as coffee machines. “And that too became a target for Russia. Very telling.”
The aftermath of the attack, which destroyed the Flex factory - Reuters
The American business was located in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia and had 600 workers inside. The attack sparked a large fire and injured 15 people.
It is not the first American business to be targeted by Russian strikes after Boeing’s offices in Kyiv were targeted earlier this year.
“No military logic or necessity, just terror against people, businesses, and normal life in our country,” Mr Sybiha added.
The White House has previously said that its minerals deal with Ukraine would protect the country, as Moscow would not dare attack American investments.
Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, while air raid sirens rang out through the night in Kyiv.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had struck an oil refinery in an overnight attack in Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk region and a fuel base in Voronezh.
Mr Zelensky also revealed that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile – known as the Flamingo – that can strike targets at 3,000km, potentially facilitating further strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The Ukrainian leader said mass production could begin at the start of next year.
Russia’s overnight attack is a significant escalation in aerial attacks by Russia after weeks of more limited strikes against the backdrop of intensifying diplomacy.
A Flamingo cruise missile - Efrem Lukatsky
Shortly after Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, met Putin on Aug 8, Russian strikes reduced in intensity.
On Thursday, Ukraine is expected to hold more meetings with its allies to work out what security guarantees they are willing to provide in the event of a ceasefire.
Mr Zelensky said he believed specific plans would take shape in ten days, at which point he would be ready to meet Putin.
Mr Trump and Ukraine’s president, who met in Washington on Monday, floated the idea of a trilateral meeting, but Putin reportedly responded by suggesting a one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian leader should take place first, perhaps in Moscow.
Smoke rising above the damaged factory - UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images
The Ukrainian leader immediately rejected the idea, with Europe now pushing for a neutral location, such as Geneva in Switzerland.
“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Mr Zelensky said.
“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” he continued. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”
Article 5 is NATO's common defence guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.
A Ukrainian soldier holds the remains of a shell at the site of a Russian Shahed drone strike - Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Ukraine is still not entirely clear what support it can expect from allies, particularly the US, which has said that Europe would do most of the heavy lifting on the ground.
The US, meanwhile, could station air defences in nearby European countries that would respond were Ukraine to face another attack.
Russia demands seat at the table
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that Europe deploying troops to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire was “absolutely unacceptable”.
“As the West’s discussions with the Ukrainian side show, all these plans are connected, in essence, with providing guarantees through foreign military intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory,” he said.
“And I very much hope that those who are hatching such plans, either they are simply trying to attract attention to themselves, or I hope that they understand that this will be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation and for all sensible political forces in Europe.”
Russia is keen to ensure China, one of Moscow’s main allies, plays a role in enforcing security guarantees, but this has been dismissed by Mr Zelensky.
“First, China did not help us stop this war from the start. Second, China assisted Russia by opening its drone market... We do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at the time when we really needed it.”
The suspect, who was identified only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, is the first person known to be arrested in connection with the blasts.
He is 49 years old, according to reports in Italian media, which said he had been arrested in a small town called San Clemente, near Rimini, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna. He is expected to be extradited to Germany.
Russian attack hits American factory in Ukraine during US-led push for peace
Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov, Associated Press
Thu, August 21, 2025
Russia has launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine, officials said, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the US-led peace efforts.
The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely avoided such attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour.
US President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday.
Donald Trump (Seth Wenig/AP)
Mr Trump last month questioned Mr Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody”.
In a social media post on Thursday, the US president criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not providing Ukraine with the weaponry it needs to “fight back”.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country,” Trump wrote. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.
European countries are discussing how they can deploy military assets to deter any post-war Russian assault on Ukraine, but the Kremlin will not accept the deployment of any troops from Nato countries, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.
Mr Putin is ready to meet with Mr Zelensky to discuss peace terms, Mr Lavrov said on Thursday, but only after key issues have been worked out by senior officials in what could be a protracted negotiating process because the two sides remain far apart.
Ukrainian and European leaders have accused Mr Putin of stalling in the peace efforts in the hopes that his bigger army, which has been making slow advances, can capture more Ukrainian land.
Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the overnight attack which left one person dead (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
US secretary of state Marco Rubio plans to host a conference call on Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior US official said.
Military leaders from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Finland, France, Germany and Italy met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to work out military options, said Joseph Holstead, a spokesman for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A source said “everything is being considered and nothing is being ruled out” regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, apart from US boots on the ground.
Military chiefs and their staffs are looking at options including “how big” the security guarantee is and what happens if it is implemented with or without a ceasefire, the official said, noting that European defence chiefs acknowledged it is their “responsibility to secure Europe”.
Russia launched 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country where much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s western allies is believed to be stored. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.
Mr Zelensky condemned the attack amid the push for peace, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.
A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, he told the Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP)
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Mr Hunder added. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he said.
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Mr Hunder said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”. It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a nursery school and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Mr Zelensky said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
On Wednedsay he said plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week, and he then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Mr Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Mr Trump, the Ukrainian president said.
Russia carries out its biggest attack in more than a month while accusing Ukraine of not being interested in peace
Svitlana Vlasova, Lauren Kent, Anna Chernova, Victoria Butenko, Mitchell McCluskey,
Kieran Kelly
THE TELEGRAPH
Thu, August 21, 2025
A trail of destruction in Mukachevo on Thursday - AFP via Getty Images
Russia struck an American business with cruise missiles overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, Ukraine has said.
The Ukrainian air force said some 574 drones and 40 missiles were fired overnight, primarily targeting western regions of the country – far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country.
The strikes killed one person and injured 15 more and struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia, according to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Video footage showed a large fire at the premises of Flex Ltd, a multinational firm that has its headquarters in Texas.
The company manufactures electronic goods including games consoles, laptops and control units for cars and other vehicles.
The bombardment was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and eighth-largest in terms of missiles.
Poland scrambled aircraft to protect its airspace during the overnight attack on Lviv, which is less than 50 miles from the Polish border. Warsaw said it saw no violations of its airspace.
Thu, August 21, 2025
A trail of destruction in Mukachevo on Thursday - AFP via Getty Images
Russia struck an American business with cruise missiles overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, Ukraine has said.
The Ukrainian air force said some 574 drones and 40 missiles were fired overnight, primarily targeting western regions of the country – far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country.
The strikes killed one person and injured 15 more and struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia, according to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Video footage showed a large fire at the premises of Flex Ltd, a multinational firm that has its headquarters in Texas.
The company manufactures electronic goods including games consoles, laptops and control units for cars and other vehicles.
The bombardment was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and eighth-largest in terms of missiles.
Poland scrambled aircraft to protect its airspace during the overnight attack on Lviv, which is less than 50 miles from the Polish border. Warsaw said it saw no violations of its airspace.
Credit: zakarpattya_online
The assault came just days after Vladimir Putin travelled to Alaska to meet US president Donald Trump to lay out his terms for peace, which include Ukraine withdrawing from the entire Donetsk region.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said the attack was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.
He said Moscow had shown no signs of pursuing meaningful peace negotiations and urged Ukraine’s allies to respond with stronger pressure, including further sanctions and tariffs.
Russia “wasted several cruise missiles against an American business”, Mr Zelensky said, noting it was a regular civilian enterprise producing domestic utilities, such as coffee machines. “And that too became a target for Russia. Very telling.”
The aftermath of the attack, which destroyed the Flex factory - Reuters
The American business was located in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia and had 600 workers inside. The attack sparked a large fire and injured 15 people.
It is not the first American business to be targeted by Russian strikes after Boeing’s offices in Kyiv were targeted earlier this year.
“No military logic or necessity, just terror against people, businesses, and normal life in our country,” Mr Sybiha added.
The White House has previously said that its minerals deal with Ukraine would protect the country, as Moscow would not dare attack American investments.
Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, while air raid sirens rang out through the night in Kyiv.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had struck an oil refinery in an overnight attack in Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk region and a fuel base in Voronezh.
Mr Zelensky also revealed that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile – known as the Flamingo – that can strike targets at 3,000km, potentially facilitating further strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The Ukrainian leader said mass production could begin at the start of next year.
Russia’s overnight attack is a significant escalation in aerial attacks by Russia after weeks of more limited strikes against the backdrop of intensifying diplomacy.
A Flamingo cruise missile - Efrem Lukatsky
Shortly after Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, met Putin on Aug 8, Russian strikes reduced in intensity.
On Thursday, Ukraine is expected to hold more meetings with its allies to work out what security guarantees they are willing to provide in the event of a ceasefire.
Mr Zelensky said he believed specific plans would take shape in ten days, at which point he would be ready to meet Putin.
Mr Trump and Ukraine’s president, who met in Washington on Monday, floated the idea of a trilateral meeting, but Putin reportedly responded by suggesting a one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian leader should take place first, perhaps in Moscow.
Smoke rising above the damaged factory - UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images
The Ukrainian leader immediately rejected the idea, with Europe now pushing for a neutral location, such as Geneva in Switzerland.
“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Mr Zelensky said.
“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” he continued. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”
Article 5 is NATO's common defence guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.
A Ukrainian soldier holds the remains of a shell at the site of a Russian Shahed drone strike - Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Ukraine is still not entirely clear what support it can expect from allies, particularly the US, which has said that Europe would do most of the heavy lifting on the ground.
The US, meanwhile, could station air defences in nearby European countries that would respond were Ukraine to face another attack.
Russia demands seat at the table
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that Europe deploying troops to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire was “absolutely unacceptable”.
“As the West’s discussions with the Ukrainian side show, all these plans are connected, in essence, with providing guarantees through foreign military intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory,” he said.
“And I very much hope that those who are hatching such plans, either they are simply trying to attract attention to themselves, or I hope that they understand that this will be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation and for all sensible political forces in Europe.”
Russia is keen to ensure China, one of Moscow’s main allies, plays a role in enforcing security guarantees, but this has been dismissed by Mr Zelensky.
“First, China did not help us stop this war from the start. Second, China assisted Russia by opening its drone market... We do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at the time when we really needed it.”
Elsewhere, Italy arrested a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of plotting the underwater bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines.
The suspect, who was identified only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, is the first person known to be arrested in connection with the blasts.
He is 49 years old, according to reports in Italian media, which said he had been arrested in a small town called San Clemente, near Rimini, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna. He is expected to be extradited to Germany.
Russian attack hits American factory in Ukraine during US-led push for peace
Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov, Associated Press
Thu, August 21, 2025
Russia has launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine, officials said, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the US-led peace efforts.
The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely avoided such attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour.
US President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday.
Donald Trump (Seth Wenig/AP)
Mr Trump last month questioned Mr Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody”.
In a social media post on Thursday, the US president criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not providing Ukraine with the weaponry it needs to “fight back”.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country,” Trump wrote. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.
European countries are discussing how they can deploy military assets to deter any post-war Russian assault on Ukraine, but the Kremlin will not accept the deployment of any troops from Nato countries, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.
Mr Putin is ready to meet with Mr Zelensky to discuss peace terms, Mr Lavrov said on Thursday, but only after key issues have been worked out by senior officials in what could be a protracted negotiating process because the two sides remain far apart.
Ukrainian and European leaders have accused Mr Putin of stalling in the peace efforts in the hopes that his bigger army, which has been making slow advances, can capture more Ukrainian land.
Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the overnight attack which left one person dead (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
US secretary of state Marco Rubio plans to host a conference call on Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior US official said.
Military leaders from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Finland, France, Germany and Italy met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to work out military options, said Joseph Holstead, a spokesman for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A source said “everything is being considered and nothing is being ruled out” regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, apart from US boots on the ground.
Military chiefs and their staffs are looking at options including “how big” the security guarantee is and what happens if it is implemented with or without a ceasefire, the official said, noting that European defence chiefs acknowledged it is their “responsibility to secure Europe”.
Russia launched 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country where much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s western allies is believed to be stored. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.
Mr Zelensky condemned the attack amid the push for peace, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.
A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, he told the Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP)
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Mr Hunder added. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he said.
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Mr Hunder said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”. It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a nursery school and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Mr Zelensky said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
On Wednedsay he said plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week, and he then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Mr Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Mr Trump, the Ukrainian president said.
Russia carries out its biggest attack in more than a month while accusing Ukraine of not being interested in peace
Svitlana Vlasova, Lauren Kent, Anna Chernova, Victoria Butenko, Mitchell McCluskey,
CNN
Thu, August 21, 2025
Black smoke rises from an electronics manufacturing company production facility in Mukachevo, Ukraine, that was hit by Russian missiles on Thursday. - Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration/Anadolu/Getty Images
Russia launched its largest drone and missile salvo on Ukraine in more than a month, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, as Moscow accused Kyiv of not being interested in a “sustainable, fair and long-term settlement.”
Nine civilians were killed in the strikes as well as in shelling in eastern Ukraine, officials said. The attacks come just days after US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, followed by a White House summit with Zelensky and European leaders, in pursuit of an end to the conflict.
But since then, there have been few signs of tangible progress. Russia’s foreign minister poured cold water on the idea of a leaders’ summit and security guarantees for Kyiv, saying the Kremlin won’t accept the placement of any foreign troops in Ukraine.
In its overnight attacks, Russia launched a total of 574 strike drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hitting as far west as the city of Lviv.
Missiles also struck an American-owned manufacturing company, Flex Ltd., in the western region of Zakarpattia, in an attack that injured at least 19 people, Ukrainian officials said. Flex is a American-Singaporean company that provides electronics manufacturing services and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
“Overnight, Russian missiles attacked one of the largest American investments in Ukraine – Flex – an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce,” said Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. “Russia continues to destroy and humiliate US businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the US stock markets.”
A spokesperson for Flex told CNN that six of its staff remain in hospital after the strike, and stressed that the company “does not produce, supply, or support any military equipment.”
Zelensky suggested Russia’s strike on Flex’s facilities was deliberate.
“The Russians knew exactly where they were hitting,” the Ukrainian leader said in his nightly video address Thursday evening, “We believe that this was a deliberate strike against American property here in Ukraine, against American investments.”
The French Foreign Ministry condemned the massive attacks across Ukraine, saying they “illustrate Russia’s lack of willingness to seriously engage in peace talks.”
In a statement, Zelensky also noted the timing of Moscow’s strikes. “The Russians carried out this attack as if nothing had changed at all. As if there were no efforts by the world to stop this war,” he said. “A response is needed. There is still no signal from Moscow that they really intend to engage in meaningful negotiations and end this war.”
Zelensky said a day earlier he is ready to make “some compromise” on his demand that a ceasefire takes place before any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin – as long as some security guarantees for Ukraine are established.
Thu, August 21, 2025
Black smoke rises from an electronics manufacturing company production facility in Mukachevo, Ukraine, that was hit by Russian missiles on Thursday. - Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration/Anadolu/Getty Images
Russia launched its largest drone and missile salvo on Ukraine in more than a month, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, as Moscow accused Kyiv of not being interested in a “sustainable, fair and long-term settlement.”
Nine civilians were killed in the strikes as well as in shelling in eastern Ukraine, officials said. The attacks come just days after US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, followed by a White House summit with Zelensky and European leaders, in pursuit of an end to the conflict.
But since then, there have been few signs of tangible progress. Russia’s foreign minister poured cold water on the idea of a leaders’ summit and security guarantees for Kyiv, saying the Kremlin won’t accept the placement of any foreign troops in Ukraine.
In its overnight attacks, Russia launched a total of 574 strike drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hitting as far west as the city of Lviv.
Missiles also struck an American-owned manufacturing company, Flex Ltd., in the western region of Zakarpattia, in an attack that injured at least 19 people, Ukrainian officials said. Flex is a American-Singaporean company that provides electronics manufacturing services and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
“Overnight, Russian missiles attacked one of the largest American investments in Ukraine – Flex – an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce,” said Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. “Russia continues to destroy and humiliate US businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the US stock markets.”
A spokesperson for Flex told CNN that six of its staff remain in hospital after the strike, and stressed that the company “does not produce, supply, or support any military equipment.”
Zelensky suggested Russia’s strike on Flex’s facilities was deliberate.
“The Russians knew exactly where they were hitting,” the Ukrainian leader said in his nightly video address Thursday evening, “We believe that this was a deliberate strike against American property here in Ukraine, against American investments.”
The French Foreign Ministry condemned the massive attacks across Ukraine, saying they “illustrate Russia’s lack of willingness to seriously engage in peace talks.”
In a statement, Zelensky also noted the timing of Moscow’s strikes. “The Russians carried out this attack as if nothing had changed at all. As if there were no efforts by the world to stop this war,” he said. “A response is needed. There is still no signal from Moscow that they really intend to engage in meaningful negotiations and end this war.”
Zelensky said a day earlier he is ready to make “some compromise” on his demand that a ceasefire takes place before any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin – as long as some security guarantees for Ukraine are established.
Ukraine and its allies in Europe have long pushed for there to be a ceasefire as a first step toward ending the war, which would require resolving seemingly intractable issues such as land and security guarantees.
But after Trump pivoted toward favoring a “peace deal” over an immediate ceasefire, Zelensky indicated he was willing to be flexible.
“The format that has been proposed likely involves some compromise,” he said. “I told President Trump that, in any case, we will need a period of calm to develop the entire plan for ending the war – if we truly want the plan to be serious.”
Zelensky told journalists Wednesday that Ukraine is waiting for “security guarantees architecture” to be established within seven to 10 days before setting a date for talks with the Kremlin.
Kremlin pours cold water on bilateral meeting
Moscow’s comments, meanwhile, have openly contradicted the White House narrative that plans for a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky are “underway.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Thursday the Kremlin is open in principle to a Putin-Zelensky meeting, but with an understanding that “all issues … will be worked out first” – effectively batting away plans for an imminent summit.
Lavrov also said that when it comes to signing a peace deal, “the issue of the legitimacy of the person who will sign future agreements on behalf of Ukraine will be resolved.”
The minister was referring to the Kremlin’s claim that Zelensky is an illegitimate president due to his term technically ending in May 2024, ignoring the fact that wartime conditions legally prohibit elections and allow him to remain in office.
He also warned against any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” for Russia and “all sensible political forces in Europe.”
Lavrov also tried to paint a picture that the Ukrainian side was impeding further talks.
Ukraine is “directly showing that they are not interested in a sustainable, fair and long-term settlement,” he said.
The Kremlin has said Putin proposed sending higher-level officials to talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, which, crucially, have so far included lower-level officials and have not made meaningful progress toward a ceasefire. In May, Putin decided not to show up for talks in Turkey that he himself suggested.
CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Pierre Bairin, Kristen Holmes and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
But after Trump pivoted toward favoring a “peace deal” over an immediate ceasefire, Zelensky indicated he was willing to be flexible.
“The format that has been proposed likely involves some compromise,” he said. “I told President Trump that, in any case, we will need a period of calm to develop the entire plan for ending the war – if we truly want the plan to be serious.”
Zelensky told journalists Wednesday that Ukraine is waiting for “security guarantees architecture” to be established within seven to 10 days before setting a date for talks with the Kremlin.
Kremlin pours cold water on bilateral meeting
Moscow’s comments, meanwhile, have openly contradicted the White House narrative that plans for a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky are “underway.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Thursday the Kremlin is open in principle to a Putin-Zelensky meeting, but with an understanding that “all issues … will be worked out first” – effectively batting away plans for an imminent summit.
Lavrov also said that when it comes to signing a peace deal, “the issue of the legitimacy of the person who will sign future agreements on behalf of Ukraine will be resolved.”
The minister was referring to the Kremlin’s claim that Zelensky is an illegitimate president due to his term technically ending in May 2024, ignoring the fact that wartime conditions legally prohibit elections and allow him to remain in office.
He also warned against any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” for Russia and “all sensible political forces in Europe.”
Lavrov also tried to paint a picture that the Ukrainian side was impeding further talks.
Ukraine is “directly showing that they are not interested in a sustainable, fair and long-term settlement,” he said.
The Kremlin has said Putin proposed sending higher-level officials to talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, which, crucially, have so far included lower-level officials and have not made meaningful progress toward a ceasefire. In May, Putin decided not to show up for talks in Turkey that he himself suggested.
CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Pierre Bairin, Kristen Holmes and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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