Strikes across Ukraine have killed at least four people, officials said, as Russia rejected German calls for Moscow to ease its escalation against Kyiv and NATO.
The latest attacks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed a meeting with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, held during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The talks are believed to have been the first face-to-face meeting between the countries’ foreign ministers since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. They took place as an intensifying aerial campaign showed no sign of easing.
Mr Lavrov said Mr Wadephul had “simply reiterated his official position condemning Russia”. He added: “You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not.”
A German delegation official said Mr Wadephul was open to improved relations, but that this would require a genuine willingness from Russia’s leadership to end the war in Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian strikes continue
In Kyiv, a man was found dead after a Russian drone struck a non-residential building overnight, Ukraine’s emergency service said. Further Russian drone attacks on the outskirts of the capital later killed one person and injured at least five others, according to local administration head Tymur Tkachenko.
One person died and four were injured in Vyshneve, where a drone damaged five vehicles and started a fire. A security guard at a window manufacturing facility was also hurt near Fastiv, Mr Tkachenko said.
Russia also carried out multiple attacks overnight on the southern Odesa region, which surrounds Ukraine’s main Black Sea port. One person was killed and two others were injured, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the local military administration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia struck a data centre in Kyiv twice on Sunday morning, injuring two children and an adult. Russia’s Defence Ministry said the facility provided internet services to Ukraine’s armed forces.
In Russian-occupied Ukraine, a Ukrainian strike killed a civilian woman in Enerhodar, the town that houses Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, according to its Kremlin-installed mayor, Maxim Pukhov. He said two other people were injured by Ukrainian drones.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused one another of damaging power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which Moscow captured early in the war. Although the facility is not operating, it requires electricity to run its cooling systems and maintain safety.
With front-line positions largely unchanged since last year, Russia has used cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones against Ukraine. Kyiv has responded with long-range drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and businesses.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin have deteriorated in recent weeks after an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport, which Germany blamed on the Kremlin. Moscow rejects international condemnation of its invasion, describing the war as a “special military operation” intended to protect Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.
