Zelenskyy to speak with EU allies before Trump meeting amid escalating Russian attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak by video with EU allies at a stopover in Canada before meeting President Donald Trump, he said on Saturday as he headed to the United States.
“We are currently on a flight to Florida, the United States. On the way, we will make a stop in Canada. I will have a meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister, (Mark) Carney. Together, we plan to speak online with European leaders,” Zelenskyy told journalists on a messenger app.
Separately, explosions echoed across Kyiv from the early pre-dawn hours on Saturday as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.
Authorities said various locations in seven different districts of Kyiv had sustained damage, and at least three high-rise apartment blocks were on fire.
State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across Ukraine, including in Kyiv and the surrounding region were struck by Russia, and emergency power cuts had been implemented across the capital.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said a third of Kyiv was left without heat by the strikes as temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday morning.
Authorities in Kyiv region, which surrounds the city but does not include it, said 320,000 households had lost power after the attack.
The strikes also prompted the temporary closure of Rzeszow and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland, to the west of Ukraine, after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency posted on X.
