Russian attacks killed at least 12 people, including three children, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. The strikes came a day after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement to purchase Russian diesel, a move Kyiv warned could help fund Moscow’s war against Ukraine.Russian aerial bombs struck residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, leaving at least 14 people wounded, Zelenskyy said.Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange long-range aerial attacks, while their forces remain largely deadlocked along the front line, more than four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Ukraine is struggling to counter an intensifying Russian bombardment campaign that has claimed more than 60 lives over the past four days.Trump announced on Friday that he had reached a deal to buy diesel from Russia, marking a significant departure from years of US pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The move also comes as his administration seeks to address high fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections.“Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Saturday.He said the attacks showed that Moscow interpreted any easing of pressure as an opportunity to continue its military campaign and strike Ukrainian cities. “Different signals are needed,” he added.Trump had been expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call. However, the US president announced the diesel deal on Friday instead.Under the agreement, Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tonnes in November and 1 million tonnes “immediately thereafter”, Trump said in an online post. Russia would then deliver another 3 million tonnes “within a short period of time”.The announcement appeared to contradict a sweeping Russia sanctions law Trump signed last month, which aimed to curb the oil and gas revenues that help finance Moscow’s war against Ukraine.Reacting to the agreement in a lengthy online post on Friday, Zelenskyy warned that Russia would repay the move with “further terror and perfidy”. He argued that the deal amounted to an investment in the war that could prolong the conflict.“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,” he said.According to a statement issued 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, according to AP.Zelenskyy questioned the circumstances surrounding the negotiations, suggesting that Ukraine’s delegation was being used to divert attention from the diesel agreement.“I believe our team is simply being used as a smoke screen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” he said.
