Russia unleashed another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least nine people, officials said Wednesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought more American and European help during a visit to Norway.
Zelensky was joined in Norway by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end the war. Jared Kushner, another envoy who is US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was due to attend a meeting with Zelensky by videoconference.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were also scheduled to meet with Zelensky in Norway's capital.
"We are maintaining all contacts that can help bring peace," Zelensky said in a post on X after he arrived in Oslo. He said officials gathered in Norway would discuss strengthening Ukraine's air defences and joint production of weapons.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow hopes a meeting in Russia between the envoys and Russian President Vladimir Putin can be organised soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow.
"We highly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators," Peskov said.
Zelensky speaks with Rubio after US support slows
With further US support for Ukraine in doubt as relations between Zelensky and Trump sour again, the Ukrainian leader said he spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a trip to Asia.
That conversation came after Zelensky told a bipartisan group of US lawmakers that he believes "some political decision has been made to slow down... support for us".
Ukraine has nearly run out of American-made Patriot air-defence interceptors that it needs to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles, according to Zelensky, who has pleaded for Washington to send more. But he said the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles that other countries have purchased for Ukraine.
Zelensky also said he sought Rubio’s help to ensure that the United States continues to share vital intelligence with Ukraine after Kyiv received no or belated warnings about Russian missile attacks in recent days.
The Ukrainian leader also said speed restrictions were still in place on his country's use of Starshield, the military-grade version of US company SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink, hampering battlefield operations.
Trump also has waived sanctions on Russia, a move that Zelensky slammed as helping Putin push on with Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which will hit the five-year mark in February.
Zelensky said he had "a substantive conversation" with Rubio.
"I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position," Zelensky said on social media.
Rubio, who arrived Tuesday in India on an official trip, denied that the US is withholding assistance from Ukraine.
"Nothing has changed," he told reporters.
The Patriot ammunition Ukraine needs is in short supply and is also required elsewhere in the world, Rubio said.
"There has not been some deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine," he said.
Europe is helping Ukraine avoid surrender, official says
With the Russian army held up on the front line, Putin is trying to bomb Ukraine into submission while robbing it of vital US support, Western leaders and analysts say.
European countries, worried about Russia’s plans on the continent and viewing Ukraine as a bulwark against Moscow's ambitions, are trying to take up the slack of any falloff in US supplies, but some key assets are American-made.
European countries and European Union institutions have allocated €237 billion (NZ$468 billion) to support Ukraine, compared with €115 billion (NZ$227 billion) from the US, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday questioned whether US negotiators have been honest brokers in peace efforts. Ukrainian officials say the Trump administration has encouraged Kyiv to surrender land to Russia in return for peace.
"Although American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for… one and a half years now," Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin’s terms "because Europe has been supporting Ukraine," Kallas said.
Russian attacks cause power outages in 12 Ukrainian regions
Four people were killed and 27 others wounded, including children, in Russian missile and drone attacks on the Kyiv region over the past day, regional police said.
Three were killed and six were wounded in the Obukhiv district, where warehouses were damaged, police said. In the Bucha district, one woman was killed and 21 people were wounded, eight of them children, while hundreds of buildings were damaged, according to police.
On Wednesday morning, three people were killed and four injured when two vehicles caught fire in a Russian attack on the Kyiv-Odesa highway, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. The dead included the driver of a shuttle bus that was hit. The bus transports people from Kyiv to the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
Two more people were killed in a Russian attack Tuesday on warehouses on the outskirts of Dnipro in central Ukraine, authorities said.
National grid operator Ukrenergo reported power outages in 12 regions of Ukraine following the Russian attacks.
St Petersburg oil facilities burn as Ukraine launches drones at Russia
The strikes came as tensions between Ukraine and Washington deepened, with Donald Trump criticizing Kyiv’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and the prospect of further US sanctions against Moscow still uncertain.
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The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centres, port infrastructure and three cargo ships in the port of Reni in the Odesa region. It said that another bulk carrier was hit at sea on its way to Odesa.
Meanwhile, air defences intercepted 136 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions overnight, the ministry said.
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