Russian strikes kill five in Ukraine as Putin warns Europe on troops
Russian strikes killed five civilians and wounded dozens in Ukraine on Saturday, local officials said, as Kyiv faced growing pressure from Russia's intensified air campaign. The attacks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any deployment of European troops to Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Russia.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow had stepped up attacks using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to break through air defences. They said Russia had also targeted Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter in an apparent attempt to demoralise civilians.
In overnight strikes, two people were killed and one was wounded when Russian drones hit a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said. In Kryvyi Rih, one person was killed and three others were wounded, according to local officials.
In Odesa and the surrounding area, 35 people were wounded overnight in what regional head Oleh Kiper called a "massive attack". Among the buildings hit was a residential high-rise, with its upper floors completely destroyed. Later on Saturday, local officials said two people were killed in a Russian attack on a grocery store in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had struck two chemical industry facilities in Russia, one in Samara and another in Perm. The governors of the two regions did not immediately comment, but Russian independent online news outlet Astra reported drone attacks on chemical plants in both regions.
Speaking to reporters at a BRICS summit in India on Friday, Putin said that if European governments sent troops into Ukraine, it would mean "a war with Russia". "Now they're talking about how they're considering sending troops into Ukraine. That means a war with Russia," he said. Some European leaders have pledged support for a possible peacekeeping force, an idea Moscow has repeatedly called unacceptable.
Putin also denied that Russia posed any threat to Europe, saying, "there is no such threat and never has been." He added: "We do not threaten, nor do we intend to threaten, European countries." Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday that two incidents along Ukraine's borders with Poland and Moldova this week were a sign of possible intensified Russian provocations at Ukraine's border crossing points with Europe. He said two people were killed when Russian drones struck the Starokozache crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday night, while a "direct threat" to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point on Wednesday night was avoided because of cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Deutsche Welle published on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he would meet Putin if both leaders were invited to the G20 summit in Miami in December. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Saturday that the possibility of Putin attending had not yet been discussed. The Kremlin has previously said Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wanted to meet Putin, an offer Kyiv has rejected. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday: "If he really wants to meet with Putin, Putin has already said that he could fly to Moscow." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said on Saturday that Russia was "ready for negotiations", but added that the so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine "will not be suspended during this period of negotiations."
The day saw a fresh wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, new claims by Kyiv of attacks inside Russia, and sharp exchanges over possible European troop deployment and any future talks between Zelenskyy and Putin.
