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Peter Weber, The Week US
Guest
What happened
Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine Thursday, killing at least 23 people in Kyiv and damaging the European Union's diplomatic office and the nearby British Council office, along with scores of other civilian buildings.
Ukraine said it shot down most of the 598 attack drones and 31 missiles Russia fired across the country over 11 hours starting at about 3 a.m. But among the damage was a five-story residential building reduced to rubble. "As of 11 p.m. rescue efforts were still underway," Reuters said.
Who said what
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strike, the second-largest since Russia invaded in 2022 and the deadliest since President Donald Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin to jump-start peace talks, showed that Moscow is choosing "ballistics instead of the negotiating table." It was the "clearest signal" since the summit that Putin planned to "eschew Trump's peace efforts" while "also striking a blow to the Western institutions supporting Kyiv," The Wall Street Journal said.
Trump "was not particularly perturbed" by "Putin's overnight bombardment," Politico said. He "was not happy about this move, but he was also not surprised," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, equating Russia's "attack on Kyiv," with Ukraine's recent "blow to Russia's oil refineries."
What next?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was preparing a 19th sanctions package to force Putin "to the negotiating table," and vowed that European security guarantees would "turn Ukraine into a steel porcupine."
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