Russia kills 20 in Ukraine as US hosts ‘productive’ talks to end war

Twenty people, including three children, ⁠⁠have been killed in a Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to lift sanctions on Russian diesel in a major setback for Kyiv.

“Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media, in some of his sharpest criticism yet of the White House.

A six-year-old girl was among those killed when one attack reduced part of an apartment block to rubble, according to the Reuters news agency.

Russia hit several locations simultaneously in the early hours of Saturday, said a senior official in Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin.

It was the third mass casualty attack on Ukraine this week. Nearly 80 civilians were killed in Russian attacks on Wednesday and Thursday.

“There are more and more daytime attacks taking place across Ukraine,” said Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv. “For example, a glide bomb hit a bus stop earlier in the week, killing 30 people and in Kyiv recently, more and more jet-powered drones are striking targets during the daytime.”

One video showed “a man standing in front of a school and running from a building when he heard the jet approaching, surviving only by a few seconds”, she added.

Our reporter said it all underscores just how dangerous things have become for civilians in Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia, with a pre-war population of over 700,000, has been a regular target of Russian bombardment, with attacks intensifying in the past few months.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that lifting sanctions on Russian diesel would help fuel the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.

“This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia and Europe won’t,” she wrote online.

Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports comes as his administration seeks to curb fuel prices, which have risen sharply during the US conflict with Iran.

Kyiv had instead urged Washington to increase pressure on Moscow in an effort to force it into serious negotiations to end the four-and-a-half-year war.

Trump, meanwhile, has criticised Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, which he claims have driven up global prices. Kyiv has said it wants a total halt on all energy strikes by both sides as Moscow pummels Ukraine’s power grid.

US, Ukraine, EU meeting

The attacks come after US, Ukrainian and European officials met in the US to discuss a proposal for ⁠⁠ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

A delegation of Ukrainian officials who visited Miami, Florida, was heading home on Saturday, Dmytro Lytvyn, an aide to Zelenskyy, told AFP.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday that “constructive discussions” tackled “potential avenues to de-escalate and conclude the war with Russia ahead of winter and advance efforts toward a durable and lasting peace”.

Witkoff said the meeting included “the E3, the European Commission, Ukraine and NATO”.

The discussions covered energy resilience, grain exports, security guarantees and “longer-term arrangements for Ukraine’s and Europe’s security to prevent future conflict”, Witkoff said.

He also noted the “productive” talks discussed “Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and economic prosperity, including EU accession”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday the conflict had reached a dangerous “stalemate”, with the failure to reach a negotiated settlement raising the risk of further escalation.

“The other way that stalemates end is through escalation,” Rubio told reporters, warning that the conflict could spread to neighbouring NATO countries.