Russia has launched a huge bombardment on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, just hours after US envoy Steve Witkoff hailed Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian.”
At least one person has been killed and 24 injured as Russian missiles rained down on a number of houses on Wednesday night, the Kyiv Post reports.
A bridge, an ambulance station and residential buildings were struck during the attack.
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The latest offensive from Russia comes after Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told Russian president Vladimir Putin that he is a “humanitarian.”
During a face-to-face meeting in St. Petersburg, Witkoff thanked the Russian president for the release of U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, praising Putin as a “humanitarian” like Trump.
In a post on X, Zelensky made reference to Witkoff’s comments, as he wrote: “Three waves of ballistic missiles have been launched at Kyiv by Russian “humanitarians” since yesterday evening.”
He continued: “Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack. This means there has been no real change in its attitude toward everything that is happening.
“It is important to keep trying to find the right solutions to end this war. But when Russia responds to negotiations with ballistic missiles, real pressure on Russia is needed to bring about different steps – steps toward ending the killing.”
“The aggressor deserves to be treated accordingly,” he added.
The attacks also come after Trump had claimed “we’re maybe the closest we’ve been” to ending the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Speaking on Wednesday, the US president said: “The other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we’re getting closer to. Maybe now the closest we’ve been.”
Over the last couple of weeks, Trump has been cosying up to Putin.
He caused shock and anger when he struck a deal with Putin to buy diesel from Russia in an attempt to bring down pump prices in the US ahead of next month’s crucial mid-terms.
The US president also waived strict economic sanctions on Moscow just two days before they were due to come into force.
Over the weekend, Trump issued a lengthy statement making clear his pro-Russian stance and going as far as accusing Zelensky of wanting the war in Ukraine to continue.
At the same time, a decision was reportedly taken by Elon Musk to deliberately restrict Starlink access for the Ukrainian military.