Zelenskyy criticizes Russia’s new attack on Kyiv ahead of Trump’s Florida rally
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Russia’s new offensive against Kyiv involving hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles exposes “the true attitude of Putin and his inner circle,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, as he prepared to meet with President Donald Trump.
An overnight explosion in the Ukrainian capital left at least one person dead and 27 injured, local authorities told the Associated Press. It came as Zelenskyy was set to meet with Trump in Florida on Sunday, where he said he would share a 20-point peace proposal to end the conflict with Russia.
“Another Russian attack continues: since last night, there have been about 500 drones – a large number of ‘shaheds’ – and 40 missiles, including Kinzhals. The main target is Kyiv – power centers and human infrastructure,” Zelenskyy wrote in X on Saturday morning. “It is sad that there were criminals, and ordinary residential buildings were damaged. Rescuers are searching for a person trapped under the rubble of one of them.”
“There have been many questions in the past few days – so where is Russia’s response to the proposals to end the war offered by the United States and the country? Russian representatives participate in long discussions, but in fact, Kinzhals and ‘shahds’ talk about them. This is the real attitude of Putin and his inner circle,” added Zelenskyy. “They don’t want to end the war and they want to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even more suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world.”
ZELENSKY SAYS WILL MEET TRUMP ‘Before NEW YEAR’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and President Donald Trump. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images; Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP; Alex Brandon/AP)
Zelenskyy also said on Saturday that, “If Russia turns even the Christmas and New Year period into a time of destroyed houses and burned houses, of destroyed power plants, then this sick work can only be answered with really strong measures.”
“The United States has this ability. Europe has this ability. Most of our partners have this ability. The important thing is to use it,” he said.
Trump, before the meeting with Zelenskyy, said he would call the last shot in the peace agreement to end the conflict.
US OFFICIALS LAUNCHE PROGRESS IN TALKS TO ACHIEVE A ‘PERMANENT AND COMPREHENSIVE PEACE’ BETWEEN UKRAINE, RUSSIA
A drone crashes into a building in Kyiv during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, December 27, 2025. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
“He has nothing until I agree,” Trump told Politico Friday. “So we’ll see what you have.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday it carried out a “massive strike” overnight, using “long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air, and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles” and drones, on energy infrastructure facilities “used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” and “complex enterprises of the Ukrainian military.”
Rescuers work at the scene of a building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
The ministry said the strike came after Ukraine attacked “civilian objects” in Russia.
Flames rise from an apartment building following a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said its air defense shot down seven Ukrainian drones in the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Adygeya overnight.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
