Russia defends Kyiv strikes as Trump pushes for Ukraine peace

The Kremlin said Russia is striking Ukrainian “military and paramilitary infrastructure” as it defended its deadly overnight attacks on Kyiv. Russia also pointed the finger at Ukraine for its strikes against Russian infrastructure.

Ukrainian officials said at least 14 people had died in the Russian strikes overnight into Thursday, August 28, including three children, after a residential building was hit.

The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for peace in Ukraine, urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and agree on a settlement that ends the war.

“The special military operation continues. You can see that strikes on Russian infrastructure also continue, and often on Russia’s civilian infrastructure, from the Kyiv regime,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters of the Kyiv strikes, state news agency TASS reported.

“The Russian armed forces are also carrying out their tasks. As stated, they continue to hit military and paramilitary infrastructure. The strikes are successful, the targets are being destroyed,” Peskov said, originally in Russian.

But Peskov added: “At the same time, Russia maintains its interest in continuing the negotiation process in order to achieve the goals before us by political and diplomatic means.”

This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.