The Albany Gazette - Zelensky launches Europe tour after Russia pummels Ukraine

Russia's latest overnight barrage on Wednesday, which went into the morning hours, killed seven people and triggered power outages across Ukraine, also damaging a kindergarten in the east of the country, according to officials.

Diplomatic efforts to end Russia's nearly four-year invasion have faltered in recent weeks.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday shelved plans to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin for peace talks in Budapest, saying he did not want a "wasted" meeting.

Zelensky visited Oslo earlier Wednesday for talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, and is later set to visit Sweden, Brussels and London, a Ukrainian source told AFP.

In Sweden, Zelensky will visit the town of Linkoping, home to defence group Saab which produces the Gripen fighter jet among other weapons.

Russia fired 405 drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine between late Tuesday and early Wednesday, most of which were intercepted, Ukraine's air force said.

At least seven people were killed in the attacks, authorities said.

- Windows 'blown out' -

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard multiple explosions during the night and saw a pillar of smoke rising above the capital.

"My hands are still shaking," Kyiv resident Mariana Gorchenko told AFP.

"I jumped up, glad that my little one wasn't in the room where the windows were blown out," she said.

Zelensky said the strikes showed Russia did not feel "enough pressure for dragging out the war".

The strikes damaged a kindergarten in the eastern Kharkiv region, Zelensky said, sharing images showing rescuers carrying children from the building, its windows shattered and facade partly crumbled.

The attacks also targeted the country's energy infrastructure, leaving thousands without heating and electricity across Ukraine in the cold season, according to the energy ministry.

Russia said it had targeted Ukrainian energy facilities supplying the military, including with hypersonic missiles, in what it called retaliation for strikes on Russian civil infrastructure.

- 'No one wants to waste time' -

Trump had said he would meet Putin for peace talks in the Hungarian capital Budapest within two weeks, following what he called a productive phone call to end Russia's war.

On Tuesday he shelved those plans, saying he did not want a "wasted" meeting.

But the Kremlin on Wednesday appeared to leave the door open for a summit, saying preparations were still ongoing.

When asked about Trump's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "No one wants to waste time, neither President Trump nor President Putin."

Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Russia's refusal to agree to a ceasefire, having so far failed to convince Putin to back down on his maximalist demands.

The US leader met Putin at a summit in Alaska in August but the two failed to produce any sort of peace deal.

Visiting Oslo, Zelensky backed Trump's proposal to make the current front line the basis for negotiations with Russia, but doubted Putin would accept it.

Ukraine and European allies have repeatedly rejected calls for Kyiv to give up land.

Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a "special military operation" to demilitarise the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.

Kyiv and its European allies say the war is an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.

Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory -- much of it ravaged by fighting -- while tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers have been killed.

(F.Jackson--TAG)