Russia launches major Ukraine missile attack after US cuts off military aid

KYIV, Mar 07 (Agencies): Russian forces damaged Ukrainian energy and gas infrastructure overnight in their first major missile attack since the US paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, piling pressure on Kyiv as President Donald Trump seeks a swift end to the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, seeking to shore up Western support for his country after Trump's diplomatic pivot towards Moscow, called for a truce covering air and sea, though not ground troops - an idea first mooted by France.
"The first steps to establishing real peace should be forcing the sole source of this war, Russia, to stop such attacks," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app, responding to the overnight missile attack.
Ukraine's air force said Russia had fired a salvo of 67 missiles and 194 drones in the overnight attack, adding that it had shot down 34 of the missiles and 100 of the drones.
Regional officials from the northeastern city of Kharkiv to the western city of Ternopil reported damage to energy and other infrastructure. Eight people were injured in Kharkiv and two more, including a child, were hurt in Poltava, officials said.
"Russia continues its energy terror," Energy Minister German Galuschenko said. "Again energy and gas infrastructure in various regions of Ukraine has come under massive missile and drone fire."
Russia targets Ukrainian cities and towns far from the front lines every night with drones, but Friday's attack was the first large-scale assault since the suspension of the US military aid and intelligence this week.
Ukraine's relations with the US, previously its most important ally, have plunged into crisis since Zelenskiy's acrimonious exchange with Trump in the Oval Office last Friday before the world's TV cameras.
Trump said afterwards that Zelenskiy - whom he had already branded a "dictator" - that the Ukrainian leader was an obstacle to his vision for bringing peace to Ukraine.
In a bid to patch things up, Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible and to work under Trump's leadership, calling the way things had gone in Washington "regrettable".
In a further sign of re-engagement with the US, Zelenskiy said late on Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia next Monday for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of talks there later in the week between US and Ukrainian officials.
Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has already held extensive talks with Russian officials, said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a peace agreement framework to end the three-year war and confirmed that a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Russia will seek a peace deal in Ukraine that safeguards its own long-term security and will not retreat from the gains it has made in the conflict, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in comments to relatives of soldiers killed there.
Putin also took an indirect swipe at French President Emmanuel Macron, saying Western leaders should not underestimate the Russian people and should keep in mind the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose invasion of Russia in 1812 ended in disaster.
“We must choose for ourselves a peace option that will suit us and that will ensure peace for our country in the long term,” Putin told a group of Russian women who have lost loved ones during the three-year war in Ukraine.
Asked by the mother of one fallen soldier if Russia would retreat, Putin said he did not intend to do that. Russia currently controls just under a fifth of Ukraine — or about 113,000 square km.
At times during the meeting some women wiped away tears.
US President Donald Trump has upended Western policy on the Ukraine war, opening up bilateral talks with Moscow and pausing military aid to Kyiv after clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House last week.
Reuters reported in November that Putin was open to discussing a Ukraine peace deal with Trump but ruled out any major territorial concessions and would insist that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.