Russian strikes killed at least seven people, including three children, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, officials said Saturday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy diesel from Russia that Kyiv warned could help finance Moscow's war.
Russian aerial bombs struck residential buildings in the region, killing seven people and injuring at least 10 others, said Mykhailo Semikin, head of the regional military administration.
Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange long-range airstrikes, while fighting on the front line remains largely deadlocked, more than four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Ukraine has been struggling to counter increasingly intense Russian attacks that have killed more than 55 people over the past four days.
The latest strikes came a day after Trump announced a deal to purchase diesel from Russia, reversing years of US pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The move is also aimed at addressing rising fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections.
Trump said on social media Friday that he reached the agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call that had been expected to focus on a suspected plague case in Russia.
Under the deal, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by another 500,000 tonnes in November and one million tonnes “immediately thereafter”. Russia will deliver an additional three million tonnes “within a short period of time”, Trump said.
The announcement appeared to contradict a sweeping Russia sanctions law Trump signed last month, which sought to restrict Moscow's oil and gas revenues used to finance its war against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the deal in a lengthy social media post, warning that Russia would repay it with “further terror and perfidy”. He argued that the agreement would help Moscow prolong the war.
“It plays into Russia's hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” Zelenskyy said.
In a statement released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, Zelenskyy described the agreement as “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners”.
Trump announced the deal while his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the war.
“I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” Zelenskyy said.