Zelensky visits Ukraine's front line ahead of peace talks
President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Ukraine's frontline Donetsk region on Saturday, as Russia continued to launch drone attacks across the country despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.Mr Zelensky met commanders of drone units near the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian troops have fended off Russian assaults for months as Moscow's forces have slowly advanced in a gradual bid to capture the entire region.'I visited the command post of the Tactical Group Pokrovsk and met with the commanders of the Drone Line, which united the finest unmanned systems units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,' Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
On Saturday, it was announced that a family of three, including a 14-year-old girl, had been killed in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia following an attack on Friday night.'Russia has once again violated the ceasefire and killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with,' Mr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said.
He added that a Shahed was responsible for the attack, referring to the Iranian-style kamikaze drones that Moscow has deployed throughout the war.
The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother's life for more than 10 hours, regional head Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Four more people were killed in other parts of the country, officials said.Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a limited ceasefire after US President Trump spoke with both leaders this week, though it is not yet clear when it might take effect and what targets would be off limits.
But hours after the agreement was announced, Russian forces on Wednesday conducted an airstrike on the energy infrastructure of Slovyansk, a city of 100,000 people in the Donetsk region. Such strikes have continued since.Delegations from both countries will hold separate talks on implementing a ceasefire with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday.
We'll be back soon with more updates and analysis from the conflict.
We reported earlier that Czech President Petr Pavel visited Ukraine's largest children's hospital on Saturday (see post at 14:22).
In July 2024, the hospital sustained major damaged when it was struck by a wave of Russian missile strikes. Two people were killed.
Russia denied targeting the hospital, saying it had been hit by fragments of a Ukrainian air defence missile, while Ukraine said it had found remnants of a Russian cruise missile.
Czech President Petr Pavel visited Ukraine's largest children's hospital on Saturday, according to Kyiv's minister of health.
Viktor Liashko took Mr Pavel on a tour of the Ohmatdyt paediatric hospital in Kyiv, calling it a 'place of rescue for young patients with the most complex diseases.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the border of Ukraine's embattled eastern Donetsk region on Saturday (see post at 10:01 am for more).
We reported earlier that Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold separate peace talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday (see post at 9:41 am).
Moscow has now said it is hoping to 'achieve at least some progress,' Russian negotiator and senator Grigory Karasin told state media on Saturday.
Mr Karasin added that he and fellow negotiator, FSB advisor Sergey Beseda, had a 'combative and constructive' mood ahead of the talks.
We reported earlier that a Russian drone killed a family of three including a 14-year-old girl in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in an attack on Friday night, despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire (see post at 9:31 am).
The attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia, which also wounded 12 people, underlined Russia's intention to continue aerial strikes 48 hours before both countries are set to hold talks on ending the war.
Russia fired more than 200 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of overnight attacks.
Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that 'residential buildings, private cars, and social infrastructure facilities were set on fire' in the attack, with officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions reporting that fires broke out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.
Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a limited ceasefire after US President Trump spoke with both leaders this week, though it is not yet clear when it might take effect and what targets would be off limits.
Ukrainian president Zelensky told reporters that 'technical' talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend would seek to resolve what types of infrastructure would be protected under the agreement.
Mr Zelensky has said he'd like railways and ports to be protected, as well as energy infrastructure.
Donald Trump's 'lead negotiator' has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is 'not a bad person.'
Discussing his two previous meetings with Putin, the US special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that he 'liked him. I think he was honest with me.
'It's a complicated situation, this war, and all the components that led to it. You know, it's never just one person who's right,' he said.
Speaking on Tucker Carlson's YouTube show, Mr Witkoff said that Putin had criticised the Biden administration's refusal to enter in talks to resolve the war.
'President Putin said to me at our first meeting: 'How do we resolve a conflict with the head of a major nuclear power if we don't establish trust and good relations with each other?,' said Witkoff, adding that Putin said he hadn't spoen to former president Joe Biden in three and a half years.
Mr Carlson, a conservative American political commentator, described Mr Witkoff as 'the most effective American diplomat in a generation.'
An apartment building was damaged after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Rostov.
Local authorities said two people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.
There was damage to six apartments in the 24-storey building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited the border of Ukraine's embattled eastern Donetsk region on Saturday.
'I thank all our defenders. Honour to all fallen heroes,' he wrote on X, alongside footage of himself meeting soldiers and visiting makeshift memorials at the region's administrative border.
'I thank everyone who helps Ukraine and supports us' against Russia's three-year-old invasion.
People gathered around 145 chairs symbolising the number of victims of the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, during a memorial concert on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack , in Donetsk, a Russian controlled region of Ukraine.
The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold separate peace talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Monday.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP it hopes to secure 'at least' a partial ceasefire to stop air and naval attacks.
A Russian drone killed a family of three including a teenage girl in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in an attack on Friday night.
'The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mother's life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her,' Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
The attack comes despite Moscow agreeing to a limited ceasefire after talks with US president Trump.
'Russia has once again violated the ceasefire and killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with a Shahed,' President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said, referring to the Iranian-style exploding drones that Moscow has deployed throughout the war.
The strikes on Zaporizhzhia wounded 12, including a nine-month-old baby, Ukrainian officials said.
Credit: X/@ZelenskyyUa
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