Star Metro - Ukraine says four killed in massive Russian drone, missile attack

Kyiv and Moscow have stepped up aerial strikes over recent months and US-led ceasefire talks aimed at pausing the over three-year war have stalled.

"Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were 'Shaheds'," , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, referring to Iranian-made drones.

The Ukrainian air force said it had downed 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles, adding that one missile and about 20 drones hit "five locations". It did not elaborate.

Zelensky said the strikes had killed at least two people and wounded 20 in Chernvsty in the west, far from the front lines of the east and south.

Six people were wounded in Lviv, also in the west, while in the east, two people died in Dnipropetrovsk and three were wounded in Kharkiv, local authorities said.

The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted companies in Ukraine's military-industrial ccomplex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk and a military aerodrome.

On Friday, Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks killed three people in Russia.

US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due on Monday to begin his latest visit to Ukraine as a Washington-led peace effort flounders.

On Friday, the Kremlin restated its opposition to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv's allies had a plan "ready to go... in the hours after a ceasefire".

US President Donald Trump called Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday but said afterwards there had been no progress towards ending the war.

The Kremlin said Putin would not give up on Russia's war goals but would nonetheless continue to take part in negotiations.

Moscow says its aim in Ukraine is to get rid of the "root causes" of the conflict and has demanded that Kyiv give up its NATO ambitions.

- Weapons, sanctions -

Zelensky said on Thursday Trump had given him firm dates for the resumption of US weapons shipments and planned to make a statement on Russia on Monday.

Washington's announcement earlier this month that it would pause some armament deliveries to Ukraine was a blow to Kyiv, which is reliant on Western military support.

On Saturday, Zelensky urged his Western allies to send "more than just signals" to stop the war launched by Russia in February 2022.

"The pace of Russian air strikes requires swift decisions and it can be curbed right now through sanctions," he said.

Zelensky specifically demanded penalties for those who "help Russia produce drones and profit from oil".

Oil exports are important for the Russian economy especially in the face of existing Western sanctions.

Sanctions imposed on Russia -- the world's largest fertiliser producer -- after the invasion spared its grain and fertiliser exports.

But prices skyrocketed, fuelling fears of food insecurity.

The United Nations signed a deal with Russia in July 2022 to facilitate exports of food and fertiliser to limit global price increases.

But on Friday, it said the accord would not be renewed when it expires on July 22.

Russia has repeatedly complained the agreement does little to protect it from secondary sanction effects.

Bouchard--SMC