Ukraine's Zelensky says overnight strikes lay bare Russia's intentions in war

KYIV, August 22 ------ President Volodymyr Zelensky said that large-scale Russian attacks overnight in various parts of Ukraine showed Moscow was avoiding negotiations about ending the more than three-year-old war.

The offensive included 574 drones and 40 missiles, Zelensky said, and was one of the largest of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor, now in its fourth year. One person was killed and 22 were wounded in the overnight strikes, authorities said.

Many targets were in western Ukraine. Zelensky said a missile strike on a U.S.-owned electronics firm was a "telling" indicator of Russian intentions in U.S.-led peace initiatives. After a flurry of diplomacy, U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week there was agreement for a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Now the signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent," Zelensky said in his nightly video address. "They are trying to back away from the need to hold meetings. They don't want to end the war. They carry on with massive strikes."

Most of the overnight injuries were in an attack on the U.S.-owned Flex electronics manufacturer in Ukraine's far-west Zakarpattia region, authorities said. Storage facilities were damaged. "We believe it was a deliberate strike precisely on U.S. property here in Ukraine, on American investment," Zelensky said, describing the company as a manufacturer of appliances. "A very telling strike...at the very time when the world waits for a clear answer from the Russians on their move in talks to bring an end to the war," he said, suggesting Russia's interest in U.S.-led peace efforts was not sincere.

Russia did not comment on Zelensky's claim that its military deliberately hit a U.S.-owned facility, but Moscow denies targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. A mayor near the damaged plant said it was owned by U.S.-listed Flex Ltd (FLEX.O)

In Ukraine's western city of Lviv, the attack killed one person, wounded three others, and damaged 26 homes, said Governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Authorities in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region reported damage to businesses, homes, and gas lines. Two industry sources told Reuters a key gas pumping facility had been attacked, without giving a location. Russia said Putin had repeatedly expressed readiness to meet Zelensky, but that Ukraine was trying to undermine Trump's efforts to resolve the conflict and its leader was illegitimate.

The defense ministry in Moscow said it had struck Ukrainian energy and airfield infrastructure as well as military industrial facilities overnight and captured another frontline village - Oleksandro-Shultyne. Ukraine said it had hit a Russian oil refinery, a drone warehouse, and a fuel base.

Source: reuters.com