KYIV – Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least two people overnight into Sunday, officials said, just hours after Moscow dismissed German appeals for it to halt its escalating confrontation with NATO.
Russia’s foreign minister on Saturday played down what is believed to have been the first one-on-one meeting with his German counterpart since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The talks took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders, as the intensifying air war between Russia and Ukraine showed no signs of easing.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin have deteriorated further in recent weeks after an attempted drone attack last month at Leipzig airport, which Germany blamed on the Kremlin.
While the front lines have remained largely unchanged since last year, Russia has intensified attacks on its neighbor with cruise and ballistic missiles, heavy glide bombs and jet-powered drones. Ukraine, in turn, has used long-range drones to strike Russian oil refineries and businesses.
In Kyiv, emergency officials said a man was found dead after a Russian drone struck a non-residential building during the night.
A separate drone hit a single-story vehicle repair shop, starting a fire that firefighters were still working to contain early Sunday, the emergency service reported.
Russian forces also carried out multiple overnight strikes on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, which surrounds the country’s main Black Sea port. One person was killed and two others were injured, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration.
In Russian-occupied Ukraine, a Ukrainian strike on Sunday killed a civilian woman in Enerhodar, the town where Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located, according to its Kremlin-installed mayor. Maxim Pukhov said two other people were also wounded by the Ukrainian drones.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of damaging the power lines that supply the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, which Moscow seized early in the war. Although the facility is not operating, it requires electricity to run cooling systems and preserve safety.
Russia’s Lavrov dismisses rare meeting with Germany
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the significance of the New York meeting, which took place at the request of German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. Lavrov said Wadephul had “simply reiterated his official position condemning Russia.”
“You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not,” he said.
Wadephul said he was open to improving relations, but a German delegation official said that would require Russia’s leadership to show a genuine willingness to end the war in Ukraine.
An overwhelming majority of U.N. member states have repeatedly condemned Moscow’s invasion. The Kremlin refers to the war as a “special military operation,” saying it is intended to protect Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.
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