A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike on Odesa killed two people Thursday, officials said, just hours after Kyiv and Washington signed a long-anticipated agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.
The attack in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which struck a market in the town of Oleshky, killed seven and wounded more than 20 people, Moscow-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said.
“At the time of the attack, there were many people in the market,” Saldo wrote on Telegram. After the first wave of strikes, he said, Ukraine sent further drones to “finish off” any survivors.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike on the Black Sea port city of Odesa early Thursday killed two people and injured 15 others, Ukrainian emergency services said.
Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school.
Videos shared by Kiper on Telegram showed a high-rise building with a severely damaged facade, a shattered storefront and firefighters battling flames.
A drone struck and ignited a fire at a petrol station in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had ignored a U.S. proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire for more than 50 days now.
“There were also our proposals — at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land,” he said. “Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults.”
Agreement on mineral wealth
The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.
Zelenskyy originally proposed such a deal last year as a way of helping secure Ukraine’s future by tying it to U.S. interests. Ukrainian officials said previous versions of the accord would have reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources but that the version signed Wednesday was far more beneficial to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that the signing of the minerals deal was the “first result” of the meeting he had with Trump at the Vatican during the pope’s funeral and called the agreement “truly historic.”
During his nightly address, he said that, per the signed agreement, there were no debts to be paid from past U.S. aid to Kyiv. He said the agreement will be sent to the parliament to be ratified and that Ukraine was “interested in ensuring that there are no delays with the agreement.”
According to Zelenskyy, the agreement is “truly equal” and “creates an opportunity for investments in Ukraine.”
“This is working together with America and on fair terms, when both the Ukrainian state and the United States, which help us in defense, can earn in partnership,” he added.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-odesa-drones-trump-dac51e957514fa7d2304c8d455ebb4c9
