A Russian counter-attack targeted the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, killing at least three people and leaving many injured, as per officials. This comes amid a Moscow official declaring the Kremlin's preference for a decisive victory over a compromise.
In Sumy, local authorities reported that a barrage of rockets had struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the centre of the city, a day after direct peace negotiations in Istanbul made no progress on ending the 3-year conflict, only resulting in another prisoner exchange.
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Deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev declared in a Telegram post on Tuesday that the point of the Istanbul talks was not to reach a “compromise peace on someone else's delusional terms”, but rather for ensuring its “swift victory and the complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime".
"That's what the Russian Memorandum published yesterday is about," he added, referring to a document laying out Moscow's terms for a peace deal with Kyiv at the Istanbul peace negotiations.
This includes demands for a few more areas of Ukraine, becoming a neutral country, scaling down armed forces and holding legitimate parliamentary elections—referring to the election of President Zelenskyy, which Russia did not accept, considering it illegitimate.
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In the meantime, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko arrived in the US to persuade it to adopt a tougher stance on Russia, as well as to discuss “defence support” and its mineral agreement with Ukraine.
In an X post on Tuesday, Zelenskyy more generally pushed for “decisive actions from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who has the power”. The post also accused Russia (again) of not being serious about fostering a lasting peace between the two nations.
Moscow's counter-attack comes two days after an Ukrainian attack on Russia over the weekend, that reportedly destroyed 40 warplanes deep inside the country—a development that Kyiv claimed was a serious blow to the Kremlin's military prestige.
While the ingenious attack was important step for Kyiv, it also prompted a comment from Medvedev, who declared on Telegram that “retribution is inevitable”.
“Our army is pushing forward and will continue to advance ... everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be,” he added—a chilling statement predicting more casualties in the near future.
