Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed a pregnant woman and two other people, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, June 9, while authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea reported repelling drone attacks.
The strikes come amid an escalation in aerial attacks between both sides. Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine in recent weeks, while Kyiv has increased long-range drone strikes targeting Russian oil facilities, contributing to fuel shortages in Crimea and other regions.
Late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he held a “positive” telephone conversation with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and welcomed their willingness to work toward a settlement of the war in the coming weeks.
Zelenskiy last week published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin proposing face-to-face talks aimed at ending the war, which is now in its fifth year. The proposal was quickly rejected by the Kremlin.
“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, which he later shared on X. “Businessmen understand that the Russian economy is in a terrible situation.”
Putin, however, said last week during a business forum in St. Petersburg that although Ukrainian attacks had caused damage, there was no threat to Russia’s economy.
The latest attacks occurred as Zelenskiy returned from talks in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, who expressed support for efforts to secure a ceasefire.
An overnight missile attack on the town of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region killed three people, including a 22-year-old pregnant woman, according to regional prosecutors. The strike also damaged residential buildings, garages and shops, while six other people were reported injured.
In the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, a separate Russian drone attack left 16 people seeking medical treatment, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Meanwhile, in Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea, local authorities said air defence systems were responding to a drone attack.
Efforts led by the United States to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia have slowed in recent months as Washington focuses on the conflict involving Iran.
However, discussions continue regarding a possible visit to Kyiv by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. If it takes place, it would mark their first official visit to Ukraine since the start of their diplomatic engagements related to the conflict.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told the United Nations Security Council that Nordic countries support Zelenskiy’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire and direct talks with Putin.
Zelenskiy also revealed that Russian businessman Roman Abramovich recently met him in Kyiv and offered to relay a message to the Kremlin regarding possible peace negotiations.
“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,” Zelenskiy said.
The Ukrainian president reiterated that Ukraine would not surrender any of its territory as part of a settlement.
A Ukrainian official told Reuters that Zelenskiy published his open letter to Putin after receiving no response to a previous message reportedly delivered through Abramovich.