KYIV: Russia launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounded 12, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.
Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack. Photos showing emergency services scouring the rubble for survivors.
Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off-limits to attack.
The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said, “energy and infrastructure” would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.
The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family. The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother’s life for more than 10 hours, Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday. It said 100 were intercepted and a further 63 lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.
Local authorities said two people were injured and there was damage to six apartments when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise apartment block in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night.
Zelensky told reporters after Wednesday’s call with Trump that Ukraine and US negotiators will discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Russian negotiators are also set to hold separate talks with US officials there.
Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: “We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a complete ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilization — demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.
Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Ukraine was continuing with “treacherous attacks” on energy infrastructure facilities, and that Russia reserved the right to a “symmetrical” response.
Her comments came after Russia accused Ukrainian forces Friday of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station as part of Russia’s “discrediting campaign.”
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3 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia despite limited truce
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3 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia despite limited truce
- The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family
- The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother’s life for more than 10 hours
Trump vows economic boom, blames Biden in address to nation
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump promised Americans an economic boom in an address to the nation on Wednesday, while blaming Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for high prices that have hit the Republican’s popularity.
“Good evening America. Eleven months ago I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” the 79-year-old said in his live speech from the White House at the end of his first year back in power.
Trump faces growing voter anger over the issue of affordability despite his efforts to dismiss it as a “hoax” by Democrats, sparking Republican fears they could be punished in the 2026 midterm elections.
The billionaire president insisted that prices of gas and groceries that have worried Americans were “falling rapidly, and it’s not done yet. But boy, are we making progress.”
In a surprise announcement, Trump said that 1.45 million United States military service members would each receive “warrior dividend” bonus checks for $1,776 before Christmas, paid for with revenues raised from tariffs.
He added that specific amount was in honor of the year of the founding of the United States, the 250th anniversary of which the country will celebrate next year.
Trump then promised that “we are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen” in 2026, when the United States will co-host the FIFA World Cup, with Canada and Mexico.
But while the White House had billed the speech as a chance for Trump to set out his economic agenda for the rest of his second term, much of it consisted on attacks on familiar targets.
He repeatedly raged against Biden, the Democrats, and migrants whom he said “stole American jobs.”
Trump’s speech comes at the end of a whirlwind year in which he has launched an unprecedented display of presidential power, including a crackdown on migration and the targeting of political opponents.
- Poll worries for Trump -
But polls show what Americans are most concerned about is high prices, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners around the world.
The inflation problem also dogged Biden as he tried to heal the US economy after the Covid pandemic, and the Democrat unsuccessfully tried similar arguments with voters about economic good times to come.
Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll published Wednesday, with 57 percent of Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living.
A YouGov poll published Tuesday showed that 52 percent of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump.
He has also faced criticism from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues.
Trump did not mention Ukraine or Venezuela, but did boast about the Gaza ceasefire, the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, and what he calls a war on drug traffickers.
There are signs Trump’s team has had a wake-up call on the economy in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming.
Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee.
The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message.
Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again,” and on Friday he is due to give another campaign-style rally in North Carolina.
Vice President JD Vance — who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 — also urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday.
“Good evening America. Eleven months ago I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” the 79-year-old said in his live speech from the White House at the end of his first year back in power.
Trump faces growing voter anger over the issue of affordability despite his efforts to dismiss it as a “hoax” by Democrats, sparking Republican fears they could be punished in the 2026 midterm elections.
The billionaire president insisted that prices of gas and groceries that have worried Americans were “falling rapidly, and it’s not done yet. But boy, are we making progress.”
In a surprise announcement, Trump said that 1.45 million United States military service members would each receive “warrior dividend” bonus checks for $1,776 before Christmas, paid for with revenues raised from tariffs.
He added that specific amount was in honor of the year of the founding of the United States, the 250th anniversary of which the country will celebrate next year.
Trump then promised that “we are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen” in 2026, when the United States will co-host the FIFA World Cup, with Canada and Mexico.
But while the White House had billed the speech as a chance for Trump to set out his economic agenda for the rest of his second term, much of it consisted on attacks on familiar targets.
He repeatedly raged against Biden, the Democrats, and migrants whom he said “stole American jobs.”
Trump’s speech comes at the end of a whirlwind year in which he has launched an unprecedented display of presidential power, including a crackdown on migration and the targeting of political opponents.
- Poll worries for Trump -
But polls show what Americans are most concerned about is high prices, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners around the world.
The inflation problem also dogged Biden as he tried to heal the US economy after the Covid pandemic, and the Democrat unsuccessfully tried similar arguments with voters about economic good times to come.
Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll published Wednesday, with 57 percent of Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living.
A YouGov poll published Tuesday showed that 52 percent of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump.
He has also faced criticism from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues.
Trump did not mention Ukraine or Venezuela, but did boast about the Gaza ceasefire, the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, and what he calls a war on drug traffickers.
There are signs Trump’s team has had a wake-up call on the economy in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming.
Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee.
The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message.
Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again,” and on Friday he is due to give another campaign-style rally in North Carolina.
Vice President JD Vance — who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 — also urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday.
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