Ukraine-Russia conflict newest: Moscow plans new offensive as Putin drags out talks with Trump, Kyiv says

Two people were killed and 25 injured in a Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, Kyiv’s military said.

Drones struck the military hospital, shopping centre, apartment blocks and other targets in the city.

The military’s General Staff said that Ukrainian troops were among the injured in what it described as a “deliberate, targeted shelling” of a medical facility.

The attack “added to the long list of vile and cynical crimes committed by the Russians since the beginning of the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine”, the military added.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said one of the dead had been pulled out from under rubble. He put the overall number of injured at 27.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv expects a strong response from Western countries to the nearly daily Russian drone attacks on its territory.

“Our partners must understand that these Russian strikes target not only our people, but also all international efforts, diplomatic efforts aimed at ending this war,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, noting that 172 drones had been directed at Ukraine overnight.

“Russia is striking against everyone who seeks to end the war. It is impossible to ignore hundreds of (Iranian-designed) Shaheds every night.

“We expect a response, a serious response. We are working to ensure there is a strong reaction, especially from America, Europe and all those in the world who rely on diplomacy.”

Vladimir Putin is mocking global peace efforts, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned.

Mr Zelensky said the Russian leader was dragging out the war and “committing acts of terror” despite US efforts to broker a ceasefire.

It came after Kyiv claimed Russia launched 170 drones – over half of them Iranian – at Ukrainian towns and cities over night.

Four people were killed and at least 19 others were injured in a drone attack on Dnipro, southeastern Ukraine, in the barrage.

“Diplomacy can work, but only when backed by actions that strengthen our warriors and deprive the occupiers of the resources to wage war,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Our partners know what can help, what kind of pressure, and it depends on America, on Europe, on everyone in the world who wants effective diplomacy.”

Thousands of Russians have been left without power after Ukraine attacked Russia’s energy grid, the Kremlin claimed.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Kyiv’s troops had attacked Russian energy facilities over the past day despite a US-brokered moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure.

The ministry said Ukraine attacked power grids in the Belgorod region several times leaving about 9,000 residents without power supply.

On Thursday, Kyiv accused Russia of attacking energy infrastructure in the city of Kherson on March 27, violating the terms of the US-brokered limited ceasefire.

Russia and Ukraine announced a partial ceasefire on strikes against energy facilities following technical consultations with the US in Riyadh earlier this week.

So, Steve Witkoff, the Henry Kissinger of our age. What do we know about this man charged simultaneously with bringing peace to the Middle East, creating harmony between Russia and Ukraine, and forging a love-in with Iran?

The routine profiles tell us little about the 68-year-old Bronx-born property developer beyond the fact that he was in the same line of work as Donald Trump and that the two men played a lot of golf together. But Trump clearly believes his golfing chum has exceptional negotiation skills. Why else would he pick him to shuttle between Putin, Hamas, and Bibi Netanyahu in a bid to solve everything all at once?

Kissinger had been a US army intelligence officer in the Second World War. At Harvard, he developed an extensive knowledge of foreign policy, and he became a leading expert in arms control and disarmament. By the time he became national security adviser, he was “one of the most important theorists about foreign policy ever to be produced by the United States”, according to his biographer, Niall Ferguson.

Steve Witkoff develops luxury hotels, Alan Rusbridger writes.

Read the full story here:

Mark your calendars for 8am on 4 April as The Independent launches The Conversation, a new series where our top journalists sit down with world-leading experts to dissect the biggest issues shaping our times.

In the premier episode, world affairs editor Sam Kiley is joined by Alex Younger, the former chief of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, and leading security strategist Rachel Ellehuus, director-general of The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) and former Pentagon official with expertise in Nato and transatlantic defence.

Together, they will unpack the fast-changing global security landscape in a discussion entitled Shifting Alliances.

Find out more here:

A new Donald Trump deal offered to Ukraine in return for continued US support, but with no security guarantees in the face of Russia’s invasion, forces it to choose between life as a US economic colony or Russian occupation, The Independent’s World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley writes.

The latest version of the much-mutated minerals deal from the White House, which has been tabled in Kyiv, goes further than ever before in attempting to get Ukraine to sign up to back pay for US support in the war, plus four per cent.

On top of that it demands that the US, under Delaware law, controls most of Ukraine’s industrial output and much of its transport and communications system.

Read the full story here:

Moscow is preparing a new military offensive along the 621-mile front to strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in ceasefire talks, Kyiv officials said.

The offensives will target the northeastern regions of northeast Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizizhia regions, analysts said.

“They’re dragging out the talks and trying to get the US stuck in endless and pointless discussions about fake ‘conditions’ just to buy time and then try to grab more land,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin would have nothing to say at peace talks.

Speaking in Paris yesterday, Zelensky said Vladimir Putin was “not ready for direct talks”.

“I’ve never been afraid, it’s just Putin wants war – what can a man who wants war say at peace talks?” he said.