Russia tells the West to ‘start negotiating’ to end the ‘destruction of the Ukrainian population’ – hours after pounding Kyiv in huge drone attack
Russia today demanded that Kiev’s allies enter negotiations with Moscow to halt brutal attacks on Ukrainians, as the besieged country’s capital fended off a massive drone barrage overnight.
Ukrainian air defense units in Kiev heard shooting down Russian drones throughout the night, as air raid sirens echoed across the city on Thursday.
The head of Russia’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, called for negotiations, saying the West faced a choice between talks with Moscow over the war or the continued “destruction” of the Ukrainian population.
“Now that the situation on the battlefield is not in Kiev’s favor, the West faces a choice,” Shoigu said at a meeting with defense officials from other former Soviet states.
βTo continue financing (Kiev) and destroying the Ukrainian people, or to recognize the current reality and start negotiating,β the former defense minister said.
Russia demanded on Thursday that Kiev’s allies enter into negotiations with Moscow to stop its brutal attacks on Ukrainians
Russia’s demands come as it targets Kiev with a massive drone strike. Photo: Tracers are seen in the night sky as Ukrainian soldiers fire at the drone during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine today
Firefighters work on the site of a vegetable warehouse that was hit by a Russian drone strike
The comments were among the first by a Russian official since Donald Trump, who boasted he could end the war in a day, was elected president of the United States, Ukraine’s main political and military ally.
And his comments came as Ukrainian officials took stock after another night of aerial bombardments across the country and as Moscow claimed the capture of yet another village in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow said its forces were in control of Kreminna Balka, a village with a pre-war population of fewer than 50 people in the industrial Donetsk region, where Ukrainian defenses have been pushed back again and again.
Ukrainian media, meanwhile, reported that Donetsk region authorities were preparing to announce mandatory evacuations from seven more villages in the region that the Kremlin claimed would be part of Russia by 2022.
The overnight drone strike on Ukraine damaged buildings in the southern Black Sea city of Odesa.
The head of Russia’s Security Council called for negotiations, saying the West faced a choice between talks with Moscow over the war or the continued “destruction” of Ukraine.
Two people were injured in Kiev, authorities said, and debris from about 36 shot down drones landed in six districts of the capital, where the air raid siren lasted at least eight hours.
βThe attack took place in waves, from different directions, with drones entering the city at different heights β both very low and high,β the city government said.
The air force said it had shot down 74 Russian-deployed drones in 11 different regions, out of a total of 106 drones launched by Moscow against Ukraine.
Russia has systematically attacked the capital with drone and missile strikes since the first day of its invasion almost three years ago on February 24, 2022.
Electricity supplies in the western regions of Rivne and Zhytomyr were temporarily cut, local energy authorities said, as a result of the drone strike.
The head of the Kherson region, meanwhile, said the body of a man was recovered from the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian attack overnight.
And in the eastern region of Sumy, the body of another dead person was recovered hours earlier after a Russian airstrike, the Interior Ministry said.
It comes after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday that a Trump victory in the US election would likely be bad news for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Putin said US-Russia relations are at an all-time low.
Russia’s comments come after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States