LAST UPDATE | 27 Dec 2025

RUSSIA BOMBARDED UKRAINE with intense air attacks overnight, ahead of a crucial meeting between president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump in a bid to end the war.

The drone and missile barrage on Kyiv and its suburbs killed two people, wounded two dozen and cut off heating and electricity for hundreds of thousands of people left in freezing temperatures.

Zelenskyy said the attack that a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv showed Russia does “not want to end the war”.

He made the comments ahead of his departure for talks in the United States with President Donald Trump on a plan to halt the Russian invasion.

The Russians “do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world,” Zelenskyy said after the Russian barrage pummelled the capital killing at least one person.

The sky over Kyiv is illuminated as a Russian drone detonates upon impact during large-scale attack overnight. Alamy Alamy

Poland temporarily closed two border airports – Rzeszow and Lublin – as a result of the attack on its neighbour.

An air alert lasted several hours after loud overnight explosions, some accompanied by bright flashes that turned the sky orange, according to AFP reporters in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy arrived in Halifax, Canada, today for a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, before the Trump meeting tomorrow.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Alamy Alamy

Zelenskyy has said that he and Trump will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during tomorrow’s talks, as efforts intensify to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, one that has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.

The 20-point plan would freeze the war on its current front line between Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

It would also open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelenskyy this week.

But in an interview with US website Politico, Trump insisted that he remains central to the outcome of the negotiations.

“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump said.

“So we’ll see what he’s got.”

Trump appeared in a bullish mood, telling the website that he expects to speak with the Russian leader “soon, as much as I want.”

“I think it’s going to go good with Putin,” Trump also said.

With reporting by AFP