Just a few days after President Vladimir Putin’s peace talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump, Russia on Thursday (August 28) bombarded Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing dozens. The two countries have been engaged in a war for over 3 years now, and discussions have been on to end the conflict.

As per the latest updates, Russia’s latest offensive against Kyiv killed at least 23 people in the capital, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration. As of 11 pm, rescue efforts were still underway. Among those killed in the strikes are 4 children, while several dozens were wounded in the bombardment. All but one of the dead were in a five-storey residential building that was destroyed.

Worth noting here is that these strikes come around two weeks after Putin held peace talks with US President Trump on ending the long-standing war. However, the two leaders failed to arrive a conclusion.

Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine: How did US react?

The US special envoy on Ukraine said these strikes undermined President Donald Trump’s peace efforts. “The targets? Not soldiers and weapons but residential areas in Kyiv – blasting civilian trains, the EU & British mission council offices, and innocent civilians,” US special envoy Keith Kellogg said on X.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised,” given that the two countries had been at war for a long time.

Leavitt told a regular briefing that Trump would have more to say about the situation later, adding that the Russian attacks had been deadly and that Ukrainian attacks had done significant damage in August to Russian oil refineries. “Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” she said.

Trump-Putin peace talks: No significant impact?

Russia’s latest missile and drone strikes took place less than two weeks after Trump hosted Russian President Putin at a summit in Alaska, a meeting the US president hoped would advance his peace efforts.

According to Ukrainian forces, Russia had fired almost 600 drones and more than 30 ballistic and cruise missiles, marking its biggest attack on the capital this month. Thursday’s attack comes day after over 100,000 Ukrainian homes were left without power by Russian drone attacks on energy infrastructure on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that the strike, the second-largest attack since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, was Moscow’s answer to diplomatic efforts to end its war. “Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Zelenskiy said on X, calling for new sanctions on Russia.

“It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war.”

What infra was damaged in Russian strikes?

Zelenskiy has said that the strikes also damaged a Turkish enterprise and the Azerbaijan embassy. Additionally, the EU’s diplomatic mission and nearby British Council were also hit in central Kyiv. European Union’s executive Commission Ursula von der Leyen has strongly condemned the attack saying, “Two missiles hit in a distance of 50m (165ft) of the delegation within 20 seconds.”

“This is another grim reminder of what is at stake. It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing civilians and even targeting the European Union,” von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. The European Union and Britain summoned Russian envoys to protest.

As per the information shared by Moscow, its latest missile strikes hit military-industrial facilities and air bases, and that Ukraine had attacked Russian targets. The Kremlin said it was still interested in pursuing peace talks. Ukraine’s military has claimed that the attacks struck 13 locations.

Russia’s first naval drone attack: Ukraine’s largest warship damaged?

In another striking update, in its first naval drone attack, Russia said it had destroyed the Ukrainian Navy’s Simferopol, a medium reconnaissance ship. The incident was also confirmed by Ukrainian Navy, reporting casualties among the crew. “Efforts to address the aftermath of the attack are ongoing,” said Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk.

The Simferopol was launched in 2019 and entered service with Ukraine in 2021. Built as a Laguna-class vessel, it carried advanced electronic, radar, and optical reconnaissance systems along with a 30 mm AK-306 artillery gun. According to the WarGonzo Telegram channel, it was the largest ship Kyiv had launched since 2014.

How have European nations reacted to the latest attack?

The EU President has stated that the European nations would soon come up with a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and were advancing work on how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

After talks with von der Leyen, the Ukrainian President said, “We discussed our diplomatic efforts to stop the killings, to end this unprovoked Russian aggression, and to guarantee real security for our people.” Zelenskyy underlined that he also discussed security guarantees for Ukraine with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and they would be set out on paper next week.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the assault, which he said had damaged the British Council building. “Putin is killing children and civilians and sabotaging hopes of peace,” he wrote on X.