At least seven killed as Russian air strikes on Ukraine continue right before Trump-Zelenskyy talks

Russia launched a fresh wave of attacks against Ukraine overnight on Monday killing at least seven people and injuring over a dozen, on the eve of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House.

The Kremlin fired a new barrage of missiles and drones, according to Ukrainian officials, targeting multiple cities.

In Kharkiv, seven people were killed, including a toddler, and at least 18 others were injured after Moscow targeted a residential area in the northeastern city. The death toll was originally reported at four, but has since risen to seven as rescuers continued to work their way through the rubble in the aftermath of the strike

Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov says a two-year-old was killed in the strike. At least six of those wounded were also children aged between 6 and 17.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov noted earlier that many people were trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, warning that preliminary figures could continue to rise.

“A woman has just been rescued from under the rubble: she is alive,” Terekhov wrote on his official Telegram page.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been a target of Russia’s intensified aerial campaign.

The northeastern Ukrainian city near the border with Russia has seen an escalation in aerial assaults in recent weeks, despite the ongoing US-led peace efforts to bring Russia’s full-scale invasion, well into its fourth year, to a close.

On Sunday, multiple people were injured after Russia fired a barrage of missiles and guided bombs against civilian targets.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Sumy was also targeted by the Kremlin in the early hours of Monday. Two people were wounded, and more than two dozen homes and an educational institution sustained damage during the shelling of the region next to Kharkiv.

"The enemy continues to deliberately target civilian infrastructure in the Sumy region — treacherously, at night," head of Sumy’s regional administration Oleh Hryhorov wrote.

The Black Sea port city of Odesa has also been placed under monitoring after residents reported hearing an explosion late on Sunday and into the early hours of Monday.

Ukraine’s Air Forces also warned that the entire frontline region is under threat of glide bombs and drone attacks, urging civilians to exercise caution.

The attacks come as Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for a crucial meeting with Trump in the White House, the Ukrainian leader’s first visit since late February’s dramatic Oval Office showdown between himself, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president reiterated Kyiv’s commitment and desire to end the war “quickly and reliably”.

He referenced a previous ceasefire between his country and Russia following the initial invasion of Ukraine's Donbas and illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“Peace must be lasting. Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our east, part of Donbas, and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so called ‘security guarantees’ in 1994, but they didn't work,” wrote Zelenskyy.

Just hours before welcoming Zelenskyy, Trump, speaking to US media outlets, stressed that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO as part of any potential peace deal with Russia, a sticking point in past negotiations and a crucial goal of Zelenskyy’s to guarantee his country’s security.

In a post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, the US president also said that Zelenskyy has the power to end the war “almost immediately”, warning that if he does not, he’ll be left to continue fighting, suggestively without US support.

“Some things never change,” wrote Trump just days after his first face-to-face meeting with Putin in a military base in Alaska on Friday.

Zelenskyy will be attending the meeting with a slew of other European leaders on Monday, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also be in attendance.

They will all be joining at the Ukrainian leader’s request in a strong show of unity despite the Trump administration’s attempts to sideline Europe from talks to stop Russia's all-out war on Ukraine.

The article has been updated to reflect the latest death toll in Kharkiv on Monday.