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Children killed as Russia launches large-scale drone, missile attacks on Ukraine

Russian strikes in Ukraine have killed at least 12 people, including three children, and injured dozens.

Nearly 300 attack drones were launched overnight in addition to almost 70 missiles of various types.

Saturday night’s attack comes a day after Kyiv suffered one of the heaviest assaults since the start of the Russian invasion.

In a statement on Sunday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said rescuers have been working in more than 30 Ukrainian cities and villages following the massive strikes.

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“Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day. The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays,” Zelensky said.

The strikes come as diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have yielded little success.

The United States has mounted pressure on Russia to accept a ceasefire.

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Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Russian leader, had a two-hour phone call to discuss a ceasefire deal.

But Putin said “root causes” of the war must be addressed before a deal is struck.

“Russia is slowing down all the processes related to the end of the war in order to kill. We have long been ready to cease fire, but Russia is doing everything to continue destroying people, because Putin likes it,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said.

“Without pressure, nothing will change and Russia and its allies will only build up forces for such murders in Western countries. Moscow will fight as long as it has the ability to produce weapons.”

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On Friday, Ukraine and Russia each handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the biggest prisoner exchange since Russia launched its full-scale assault in February 2022.

On Saturday, Zelensky announced that another 307 Ukrainian prisoners had returned home as part of an exchange deal with the Kremlin.

The two countries have agreed to swap a total of 1,000 prisoners each.

The swap follows the first face-to-face talks between the two sides in three years, which took place in Turkey.

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