Overnight Russian attack shows Putin does not want peace, Ukraine says
The reported assault came a day after US President Donald Trump met European leaders and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, saying the US would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there.
After the meeting on Monday, Trump said he telephoned Putin and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents, with the aim of reaching a peace deal.
"At the very same time when Putin was assuring Trump over the phone that he seeks peace, and when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was holding talks at the White House with European leaders about a just peace, Putin's army launched yet another massive attack on Kremenchuk," Vitalii Maletskyi, mayor of the city that lies in the Poltava region, said on the Telegram.
"Once again, the world has seen that Putin does not want peace — he wants to destroy Ukraine," he said.
The overnight attack on Ukraine was the largest so far in August with Russia launching 270 drones and 10 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Maletskyi said scores of blasts shook the city, targeting energy and transport infrastructure, leaving hundreds of people in the Poltava region without power.
The Ukrainian air force said it downed 230 drones and six missiles but recorded strikes at 16 locations.
Poltava Governor Volodymyr Kohut said that the attack damaged administrative buildings of a local energy infrastructure operation. "Fortunately, there were no casualties," Kohut said on Telegram. He said that in the Lubny district nearly 1,500 residential and 119 commercial customers were left without power.
A Tuesday morning drone attack by Russia on Ukraine's Chernihiv region also damaged infrastructure with power cuts reported in parts of the northern region, according to Governor Viacheslav Chaus.
There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides have been targeting infrastructure key to the military in their strikes during the war on each other's territory, including energy infrastructure.
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