Russia bombs Ukraine hours after Xi Jinping leaves Moscow to visit Putin

Russia unleashed a wave of deadly attacks on towns and cities across Ukraine on Wednesday as Chinese leader Xi Jinping departed Moscow after talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Xi left Russia’s capital vowing to deepen ties with Putin, but the meetings failed to yield a breakthrough in Ukraine.

As Xi returned to Beijing, Russia’s military launched a barrage of attacks with Iranian-made Shahed drones in Ukraine’s Kiev region, killing at least nine people, according to local officials.

Andrii Niebytov, Kiev region police chief, said seven other people were injured when a drone hit a dormitory in the town of Rzhyshchiv.

In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, at least one person was killed and 34 injured – including two children – after Russian missiles hit apartment buildings in what was described as a “deliberate attack” to “kill civilians”, according to with presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.

Video of the attack shows an explosion in the side of two nine-story residential buildings.

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said in a statement that at least six missiles had hit the town, causing extensive damage.

“One of the missiles hit between two high-rise buildings, partially destroying apartments and balconies, damaging roofs and shattering windows,” the statement said.

“The blast wave and debris also damaged other nearby residential buildings, cars and other civilian infrastructure in the city.”

“We are not afraid”

Student Kyrylo Chorniy, 20, was inside the apartment block a few meters from where the explosion occurred.

Using a flashlight to point his apartment, he told the CNN outside the compound who “heard an explosion and saw a fire”.

Inside, all the windows are broken. Chorniy said her father was standing by a window when the explosion happened and narrowly avoided being killed.

Still, Chorniy and his parents say they won’t be forced out of the house.

“We are mostly angry. We are not afraid. Why would we be? It is our home,” she said.

“I’m going to sleep in my bed. My parents go to sleep in their beds. It’s going to be a little cold because we don’t have windows, but we’re not going anywhere.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “bestial savagery” on social media app Telegram and later said the wave of Russian attacks on Wednesday would see a response from Ukraine.

“All Russian attacks will receive a military, political and legal response,” he said. “Russia will lose this war.”

The US government stopped short of accusing Russia of targeting civilians with missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia, but said it was “certainly” consistent with past attacks.

“Obviously, it’s outside the Russian playbook to target civilian infrastructure and show no concern about avoiding targeting civilians,” said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.

Zelensky visits the front lines

Ukraine’s Air Force said Wednesday’s strikes involved a volley of 21 drones that were launched into Ukraine, of which they shot down 16.

The attacks came as Zelensky paid an unannounced visit to Ukrainian troops on the front lines in the eastern Donbass region, where some of the fiercest fighting is being fought with Russian forces.

Video from the Ukrainian Presidential Office shows Zelensky awarding medals to soldiers in Kharkiv and visiting wounded servicemen in a hospital near the front lines in the Donetsk region.

Some of the wounded helped defend the city of Bakhmut in a months-long battle to deter Russian troops from the strategic city.

According to the Ukrainian military, Moscow forces are expending large numbers of men trying to retake Bakhmut and the offensive capacity of Russian troops in and around the city is diminishing.

“It is harrowing to look at the cities of Donbass, to which Russia has brought terrible suffering and ruin,” Zelensky said in his evening speech on Wednesday.

“Right there, in Donbass, in the Kharkiv region – wherever the Russian evil has come, it is obvious that the terrorist state cannot be stopped by anything but one thing – our victory.”

Xi’s trip does not pave the way for peace

Wednesday’s wave of attacks in Ukraine came as Putin finished receiving his Chinese counterpart in Moscow after a three-day state visit announced by Beijing as a peace mission but which failed to make any progress in resolving the conflict.

Both leaders called for a cessation of actions that “increase tensions” and “prolong” the war, according to a joint statement released by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statement failed to acknowledge that Russia’s invasion and military strike was the cause of the ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

In recent weeks, China has appeared to position itself as a peace broker in Ukraine, publicizing its position on a “political solution” to the conflict, calling for a ceasefire and peace talks.

But the proposal was seen as unfeasible in the West and in Kiev because it does not include any provision for Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian lands.

On Tuesday, Zelensky said a ceasefire would “simply freeze” the conflict, giving Russia time to “prepare and come back with its only desire, its leader’s desire – which is to occupy our country”.