Key occasions
Folks shelter within the metro as Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s capital – video
‘Main rescue operation’ after Russian assault, minister says
Luke Harding
Ukraine’s inside minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned a serious rescue operation was beneath means within the Svyatoshinsky district of Kyiv, involving canine and engineering groups.
“Mobile phones can be heard ringing under the ruins. The search will continue until everybody is got out. We have information about two children who cannot be found at the scene of the incident,” he mentioned.
Morning opening: Is that this your concept of peace?
Jakub Krupa
A minimum of 9 individuals have been killed and greater than 60 wounded in a “massive” missile assault on Kyiv, in keeping with Ukraine’s state emergency service. It’s among the many deadliest assaults on the capital of the three-year battle.
The dying toll may go up with reviews of individuals trapped beneath the rubble and over 40 hospitalised within the aftermath of the assault.
The lethal strike comes a day after a diplomatic assembly in London to debate the subsequent steps and amid mounting stress from president Donald Trump on Kyiv to just accept a US-brokered peace deal, which would come with the US formally recognising Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian Crimea as a part of it.
In feedback in a single day, he boasted: ““I think we have a deal with Russia. We have to get a deal with Zelensky.”
He added: “I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelensky. So far it’s been harder.”
Or, as our defence and safety editor Dan Sabbagh put it, “Russia is willing to trade territory it does not control in Ukraine – in effect fresh air – for a US recognition of its 2014 seizure of Crimea, in other words a formal acknowledgment that it is possible to change borders by force, in effect creating an extraordinary precedent.”
After Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine would by no means legally recognise the Russian-occupied Crimea, Trump lashed out on his social media blaming the Ukrainian president for “making it so difficult to settle this war” and “prolonging the ‘killing field’”.
White Home Karoline Leavitt added that Trump’s persistence was “running very thin.””
Let’s see what the day brings us.
Coincidentally, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte will be in Washington today and tomorrow, meeting with US state secretary Marco Rubio, defence secretary Pete Hegseth, and national security adviser Mike Waltz, giving him plenty of opportunities to get the latest US line on Ukraine.
Elsewhere, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will visit London today for talks on energy security, with her trip coming less than a month before the much-anticipated EU-UK summit on “resetting” the connection in mid-Might.
And the coffin with physique of Pope Francis continues to lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica within the Vatican as cardinals finalise preparations for his funeral on Saturday, and the method of choosing his successor, set to kick off in early Might.
It’s Thursday, 24 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Reside.
Good morning.
