Russian attacks on Ukraine kill three; Zelenskiy upbeat on talks with U.S. envoys

By Jekaterina Golubkova

KYIV, June 9 (Reuters) – Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed a pregnant woman and two other people, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, while Russia-annexed Crimea said it was repelling drone attacks.

The strikes follow large air attacks by Russia on Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has intensified long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, leading to shortages of fuel in Crimea and elsewhere.

Late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had a “positive” telephone conversation with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. He welcomed their willingness to work actively toward a settlement of the war in the coming weeks.

Zelenskiy last week published an open letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin proposing face-to-face talks about ending the war, now in its fifth year. Zelenskiy’s proposal was quickly rebuffed by Putin.

“There are different people around Putin. Half of them want to continue this war and the other half want to stop it,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Guardian that he posted on X. “Businessmen understand that the Russian economy is in a terrible situation.”

Putin said last week at an annual business forum in St Petersburg that although Ukrainian attacks had caused damage, there was no threat to Russia’s economy.

The latest attacks came as Zelenskiy was returning from talks in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany who said they were ready to support ceasefire talks.

An overnight missile attack on the town of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region killed three people, including a 22-year-old pregnant woman, regional prosecutors said on Telegram. The attack damaged residential buildings, garages and shops, they said, adding that six more people were injured.

In the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest, a Russian drone attack had caused 16 people to seek medical assistance, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Officials posted photos of a building engulfed by fire and firefighters battling the flames and dousing burnt-out cars.

In Sevastopol in Russia-annexed Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet, defense systems were repelling a drone attack, the local Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

CAUTIOUS STEPS TO RESUME PEACE TALKS

U.S.-led peace efforts between Ukraine and Russia have stalled as Washington is focused on finding a solution to the Iran war.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials continue to discuss a possible visit to Kyiv by Witkoff and Kushner, a source familiar with the matter said. It would be the first official visit to Ukraine for the two envoys, who have previously travelled to Moscow for talks with Russia.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told the UN Security Council on Monday that Nordic countries supported Zelenskiy’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire and direct talks with Putin.

Zelenskiy noted on Sunday that he had met with Roman Abramovich in Kyiv and the Russian magnate had offered to take a message to the Kremlin on peace prospects.

“I told this businessman, who came to deliver the message about a potential framework of diplomatic negotiations, that we were ready to speak from the very beginning. We didn’t want this war, and we want to stop it,” he said in his interview with the Guardian.

Zelenskiy reiterated that Ukraine would not give up its territory.

A Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that Zelenskiy published his open letter to Putin after he received no response to the message sent via Abramovich.

(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo and Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Edwina Gibbs)