Zelenskiy aides visit US as Ukraine strikes Russian-held territory
KYIV, June 3 (Reuters) - Senior Ukrainian officials visited Washington on Tuesday seeking U.S. support against Russia, as Kyiv showed its ability to fight on by setting off an explosive device under a bridge that has become a symbol of the Kremlin's claims on Ukrainian territory.
A day after talks in Istanbul that made little progress towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine, Kyiv launched what appeared to be one of its biggest waves of coordinated attacks of the conflict.
Ukraine's SBU security service said it had hit a road and rail bridge that links Russia and Crimea below the water level with explosives. The extent of any damage was not clear but there were no immediate signs of traffic disruption.
The bridge is a flagship project for Russian President Vladimir Putin, built after he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a precursor to the latest conflict.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones and shelling, opens new tab targeting the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and the Kherson region in the south damaged electricity substations, leaving at least 700,000 people without power, Russia-installed officials said.
Underlining the gulf between the two sides after more than three years of war, the Kremlin said work on trying to reach a peace settlement was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrived in the United States along with Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svrydenko.
Ukraine says Moscow is stalling the peace talks and Yermak signalled that he would press Ukrainian demands for tougher sanctions on Russia.
"We will actively promote issues that are important for Ukraine. Our agenda is rather comprehensive," Yermak said on the Telegram app after arriving in Washington.
"We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia."
Yermak said the officials would also discuss a deal that gives the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral projects and sets up an investment fund that could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Kyiv appears determined to show U.S. President Donald Trump that it can still fight on, despite the rising death toll and destruction in the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
Ukraine's attack on Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions followed multiple Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that have at times left millions of Ukrainians without power during the war.
"There is no electricity throughout the region," Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, said.
"The Ministry of Energy ... has been instructed to develop reserve sources of electricity as soon as possible. Healthcare facilities have been transferred to back up power supply sources."
The attack followed drone strikes at the weekend on Russian military airfields, some of which housed long-range nuclear-capable bombers.
Ukraine's success in striking deep into Russia has prompted calls by some Russian military bloggers for a harsh response.
A Russian artillery strike on the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday killed three people and wounded 25, local officials said.
"That's all one needs to know about the Russian wish to end this war," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
Moscow has responded to such accusations by saying Ukraine is not making a genuine effort to seek peace.
At Monday's talks in Istanbul, Russia told Ukraine it would agree to end the war only if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. Ukraine rejects the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender.
"The (peace) settlement theme is extremely complex, it consists of a large number of nuances...," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, adding that "it would be wrong to expect any immediate solutions and breakthroughs here".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
U.S. trans mercenary who fought for Ukraine handed 20-year jail term for 'spreading fake news'
Russia has sentenced a U.S. trans woman who fought for Ukraine to 20 years in prison. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, 47, was found guilty Tuesday of being a mercenary for Kyiv 's forces and spreading fake news about Russia's forces. The former journalist had been volunteering as a medic for Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) and briefly served as its spokesperson. She was found guilty by the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic in occupied Ukraine. Ashton-Cirillo traveled to Ukraine shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 to cover the conflict as a war correspondent for the U.S. publication LGBTQ Nation. Within a matter of months, she resigned her post and volunteered to join the Ukrainian army, fighting as part of Kharkiv's 113th Territorial Defense Brigade, and was made a junior sergeant. In 2023 she withdrew from the frontline, having suffered injuries amid a Russian artillery attack on her unit's position, and was appointed as an English-language spokesperson for the TDF. In this role, she launched a YouTube show entitled Russia Hates The Truth which she reviewed and debunked Moscow's disinformation campaigns, catching the eye of Russian media controllers. Russian authorities added Ashton-Cirillo to a 'register of extremists and terrorists' and opened a criminal case against her in 2024, months after she said Russian journalists affiliated with state media would be 'hunted down.' She was sentenced in absentia by the court in Donetsk, meaning that she would be liable to face the full jail term if captured by Russian forces. Ashton-Cirillo courted controversy in August 2023 after her work with the Ukrainian TDF was brought to the attention of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who at the time was a Republican senator. Vance penned a letter to then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in which he accused the junior sergeant of threatening 'physical violence to anyone who circulates Russian propaganda' during a video message she had made while in post. He also wanted to know whether Ashton-Cirillo was being 'compensated using American resources' and questioned whether U.S. officials had 'reason to believe Ukrainian forces or intelligence services are planning to commit acts of violence against those who engage in "Russian propaganda." ' But Ashton-Cirillo went on to release a follow-up video amid Vance's speculation in which she told viewers that 'Russian devils' would 'pay for their crimes,' with Ukrainian TDF branding in the background. The release of the clip coincided with a visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and was not approved by the Ukrainian TDF, leading to her suspension. Speaking to in 2023, Ashton-Cirillo admitted she had not sought approval from her superiors before posting her response to Vance. 'Russia Hates The Truth doesn't require anything to be vetted - I and the TDF team have editorial control over that. 'It's meant to be as over the top as possible. 'It was my response to Senator Vance in uniform in front of the TDF logo without approval which was the reason for my suspension. 'I told my team that I was going to do it, but given that it was something as sensitive as a response to a U.S. Senator in a public setting, it needed to be approved. 'I couldn't believe it that there was a U.S. Senator trying to unmask me. 'It wasn't my message to him that was a problem, it was that President Zelensky was on a trip to the U.S. at the time and I probably should have held back in responding.' She was later cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated, but quickly moved into another unspecified role in Ukraine's Armed Forces. Ashton-Cirillo remains in Ukraine as of May 2025 and is engaged in promoting fundraising and crowdfunding campaigns to help Ukrainian soldiers wounded on the frontlines. The Russian-controlled court took umbrage with Ashton-Cirillo's vow to 'hunt down' Russian state-affiliated journalists and allegations that Russian forces had used biological weapons in operations in Ukraine and Syria. A court statement on the ruling against Ashton-Cirillo was published yesterday. It reads: 'The Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic has issued a verdict in absentia in the criminal case against 47-year-old U.S. citizen Sarah Ashton-Cirillo. 'She was found guilty under paragraph 'd' of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), Part 3 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict). 'The court established that... the mercenary arrived in Ukraine, voluntarily joined the International Legion, and was then assigned to the 113th Territorial Defense Brigade of Ukraine. 'She underwent military training at training bases and was provided with firearms, ammunition, uniforms, and special equipment. Ashton-Cirillo took part in combat operations on the side of the Ukrainian security forces against servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. 'In August 2023, she prepared a video story, which she posted on the Internet, about the alleged stockpiles of biological weapons created in Russia and the use of chemical weapons by the Russian Armed Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as on the territory of Ukraine during a special military operation. 'The mercenary has been placed on an international wanted list, and the court has chosen a preventive measure in the form of detention in absentia against her. 'Taking into account the position of the state prosecutor, the court sentenced Ashton-Cirillo in absentia to 20 years of imprisonment to be served in a general regime penal colony.'
North Wales Chronicle
29 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Russian strike kills five, including toddler, hours after Trump calls Putin
Six drones hit a residential area in the city at 5.30am local time, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of an emergency responder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 'One of the rescuers arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,' Mr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. 'It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.' The attack came just hours after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Mr Trump, Mr Putin said 'very strongly' that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine's weekend drone attacks on Russian military airfields. Six people were wounded in the Pryluky attack and are in hospital, officials said. Pryluky, which had a pre-war population of around 50,000 people, lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kyiv, the capital. The city is far from the front line and does not contain any known military assets. Mr Zelensky said a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile targeted multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kherson. 'This is another massive strike,' Mr Zelensky said. 'It is yet another reason to impose the strongest possible sanctions and apply pressure collectively.' Mr Zelensky, who has accepted a US ceasefire proposal and offered to meet Mr Putin in an attempt to break the stalemate in negotiations, wants more international sanctions on Russia to force it to accept a settlement. Mr Putin has shown no willingness to meet Mr Zelensky, however, and has indicated no readiness to compromise. US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the more than three-year war have delivered no significant progress, and the grinding war of attrition has continued unabated. Germany's new leader Friedrich Merz was due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the US on board with Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine. Ukraine's top presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, met senior American officials in Washington on Wednesday and called for greater US pressure on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of deliberately stalling ceasefire talks and blocking progress toward peace, according to a statement on the presidential website. Mr Yermak, who travelled to the US as part of a Ukrainian delegation, met senior American officials to bolster support for Ukraine's defence and humanitarian priorities. He said Ukraine urgently needs stronger air defence capabilities. Hours after the Pryluky attack, 17 people were injured in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Those hurt included children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At around 1.05am, Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city's Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles. 'By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,' Mr Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. Russian aircraft also dropped four powerful glide bombs on the southern city of Kherson, injuring at least three people, regional authorities said.
North Wales Chronicle
30 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Nato set to approve new military purchases as part of a defence spending hike
The 'capability targets' lay out goals for each of the 32 nations to purchase priority equipment such as air defence systems, long-range missiles, artillery, ammunition, drones and 'strategic enablers' such as air-to-air refuelling, heavy air transport and logistics. Each nation's plan is classified, so details are scarce. 'Today we decide on the capability targets. From there, we will assess the gaps we have, not only to be able to defend ourselves today, but also three, five, seven years from now,' Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said. 'All these investments have to be financed,' he told reporters before chairing the meeting at Nato's Brussels headquarters. US President Donald Trump and his Nato counterparts will meet on June 24-25 to agree to new defence investment goals. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that 'to be an alliance, you've got to be more than flags. You got to be more than conferences. You need to keep combat ready capabilities'. Spurred on by their own security concerns, European allies and Canada have already been ramping up military spending, including arms and ammunition purchases, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At the same time, some allies balk at US demands to invest 5% of their gross domestic product in defence – 3.5% on core military spending and 1.5% on the roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports needed to deploy armies more quickly – when they have already struggled to grow their budgets to 2% of GDP. The new targets are assigned by Nato based on a blueprint agreed upon in 2023 – the military organisation's biggest planning shake-up since the Cold War — to defend its territory from an attack by Russia or another major adversary. Under those plans, Nato would aim to have up to 300,000 troops ready to move to its eastern flank within 30 days, although experts suggest the allies would struggle to muster those kinds of numbers. The member countries are assigned roles in defending Nato territory across three major zones – the high north and Atlantic area, a zone north of the Alps, and another in southern Europe. Nato planners believe that the targets must be met within five to 10 years, given the speed at which Russia is building its armed forces now, and which would accelerate were any peace agreement reached to end its war on Ukraine. Some fear Russia might be ready to strike at a Nato country even sooner, especially if Western sanctions are eased and Europe has not prepared. 'Are we going to gather here again and say 'OK, we failed a bit', and then maybe we start learning Russian?' Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said. Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson also warned that while Russia is bogged down in Ukraine right now, things could quickly change. 'We also know after an armistice or a peace agreement, of course, Russia is going to allocate more forces closer to our vicinity. Therefore, it's extremely important that the alliance use these couple of years now when Russia is still limited by its force posture in and around Ukraine,' Mr Jonson said. If the targets are respected, the member countries will need to spend at least 3% of GDP on defence. Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said his country calculates in the medium term that 'we should spend 3.5% at least on defence, which in the Netherlands means an additional 16 to 19 billion euro (£13-16 billion) addition to our current budget.' The Netherlands is likely to buy more tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and long-range missile systems, including US-made Patriots that can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.
