Zelenskyy calls on US to sanction Russia after fresh drone strikes

Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United States on Wednesday to further sanction Moscow, which he said was clearly not pursuing a "real peace" after a night of Russian drone attacks that caused damage in several places.

He singled out strikes on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih and the northern region of Sumy, as questions swirled over basic details of two ceasefire agreements that were announced by the United States on Tuesday after talks in Saudi Arabia.

The United States said it agreed to separate deals with Ukraine and Russia to pause their strikes over the Black Sea and against each other's energy targets, although it was unclear when the agreements came into force.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they were effective immediately, but the Kremlin said the Black Sea agreements would not come into effect unless some Russian banks were linked back up with the international financial system. The Kremlin says it is already implementing its pause on energy attacks.

None of the Ukrainian statements said Russia attacked energy infrastructure overnight, but Zelenskyy said they went against the spirit of the peace talks.

"Launching such large-scale attacks after ceasefire negotiations is a clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Russia, which only reports the destruction of drones, said it had destroyed nine drones, including two over the Black Sea. Moscow said Ukraine had tried to attack a gas storage facility in Russian-occupied Crimea and energy infrastructure in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions. It did not report any damage.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv. The Ukrainian military reported 117 drone attacks and local officials said the city of Kryvyi Rih had been hit by the biggest drone attack it has faced since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

"Apparently, this is how the occupiers 'want peace'," Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, saying the attack sparked fires and damaged buildings.

He said there were at least 15 explosions in the city, which has been regularly attacked throughout the war.

"Most importantly, there were no deaths or injuries."

Living under fire

Nightly Russian drone attacks have been a feature of life in Ukrainian cities for many months. So have power outages as missiles have hammered the power grid, although Russian attacks have targeted gas facilities more recently. Kyiv has used drones to hit Russian oil facilities to strike back at its larger foe.

Zelenskyy said: "Everyone who was affected must be given assistance. But there must also be clear pressure and strong action from the world on Russia – more pressure, more sanctions from the United States – to stop Russian strikes."

Seven Russian drones were shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv, home to its eponymous port which provides access to the Black Sea and which has been closed since Russia's full-scale invasion, the governor said.

In the city of Okhtyrka in the border region of Sumy, the local governor said a drone attack damaged two apartment buildings, an administrative building, four shops, 14 market stands and other non-residential buildings.

The city of Mykolaiv faced emergency power outages early on Wednesday, the mayor said, though he did not say if the measure was precautionary or if it had been caused by the attacks. Trolleybuses briefly stopped working normally, officials said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports from Kryvyi Rih and the regions of Mykolaiv and Sumy. What was targeted there was not immediately clear.

In total, the Ukrainian military said its air defence units had shot down 56 of the 117 drones it reported overnight. It said 48 more of those drones had been "lost", shorthand that usually means they were suppressed by electronic warfare defences. There was no immediate comment from Russia.