8 killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine as Putin warns Europe against sending troops

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed eight civilians and wounded dozens of other people in Ukraine, local officials said Saturday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that sending European troops into Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Russia.

Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize civilians.

Two people were killed and one wounded when Russian drones struck a residential area overnight in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.

One person died and three others were wounded in strikes on Kryvyi Rih, according to local officials.

In the Black Sea port of 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, whose upper floors were completely destroyed.

Three people were killed on Saturday when cars were hit by drones in Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, along with a further two people in a Russian attack on a grocery store in the Zhytomyr region, local officials said.

Separately, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck two chemical industry facilities in Russia, one in Samara and one in Perm. The governors of the regions did not immediately comment, but Russian independent online news outlet Astra reported drone attacks on chemical plants in both regions.

Putin, speaking to reporters at a summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in India on Friday, said that if European governments send troops into Ukraine, it will 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 their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force, a prospect that Moscow has repeatedly described as unacceptable.

Putin also denied Russia posed any threat to Europe, saying “there is no such threat and never has been.”

“We do not threaten, nor do we intend to threaten, European countries,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that two incidents along Ukraine’s borders with Poland and Moldova this week were a preview of potential intensified Russian provocations at Ukraine’s border crossing points with Europe.

Two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday night, while a “direct threat” to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point on Wednesday night was only avoided thanks to cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv, he said.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle published on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he would meet Putin if both leaders were invited to the Group of 20 summit of rich and developing nations in December in Miami.

Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the possibility of Putin attending the summit had not yet been discussed.

The Kremlin in the past has said that Zelenskyy can come to Moscow if he wants a meeting with Putin, a proposal Kyiv has rejected.

“If he really wants to meet with Putin, Putin has already said that he could fly to Moscow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed Saturday that Russia is “ready for negotiations,” but that the so-called “special military operation,” as Moscow refers to its war in Ukraine, “will not be suspended during this period of negotiations.”

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Morton reported from London.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine