> Russia struck a building housing the EU’s delegation in Kyiv Thursday morning, causing significant damage but no injuries to staff. The EU’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova said the building was “severely damaged by the shock wave” of the “massive” barrage of drones and ballistic missiles Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, in which she said at least 10 people had been killed and 30 injured. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of having “targeted diplomats — in direct breach of the Vienna convention.” The EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas called it “a deliberate choice to escalate and mock” peace efforts.
> The strikes come as US President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin as he seeks to forge a peace deal to end the war. Ukraine has made Western-backed security guarantees a central demand in any settlement to prevent further Russian attacks. After the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some of his key European backers gathered in the White House on Aug. 18, Trump’s administration signaled it would support a European-led force helping guarantee Ukrainian security, providing intelligence assets and battlefield oversight and taking part in an air defense shield.
> But while Trump said afterward that he would soon convene a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, and that the Russian had agreed to the idea, Kremlin-watchers have cast doubt on Putin’s intentions. The Russian president has prevaricated, dragging his heels on any direct meeting with Zelenskyy and on peace negotiations. Moscow has doubled down on its asks, including demanding that Kyiv cede the entire Donbas region, among them key strategic strongholds that Russia does not control. Zelenskyy has ruled that out, saying doing so would provide Putin a springboard for a future invasion. Russia on Wednesday also rejected the idea of European peacekeeping troops serving in Ukraine — contradicting Trump’s claim that Putin would accept them under a peace deal.
> Thursday’s attack on Kyiv comes on the same day as the EU’s defense ministers are due to arrive in Copenhagen to discuss how to put more pressure on Russia via both sanctions and support for Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said EU delegation staffers were safe, and called for Russia to “stop its indiscriminatory attacks on civilian infrastructure immediately.” European Council President António Costa said the damage to the EU delegation building in Kyiv overnight was “deliberate,” adding that he was “horrified” by the Russian attacks. But, he said, “The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people.”
> European Parliament President Roberta Metsola condemned “another indiscriminate Russian attack during this senseless aggression,” calling the delegation “the EU’s voice on the ground in Ukraine” in a post on X. “I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace and chooses terror,” the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a statement on social media. “Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families and all Ukrainians enduring this aggression,” she continued.
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> Russia struck a building housing the EU’s delegation in Kyiv Thursday morning, causing significant damage but no injuries to staff. The EU’s Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova said the building was “severely damaged by the shock wave” of the “massive” barrage of drones and ballistic missiles Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, in which she said at least 10 people had been killed and 30 injured. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of having “targeted diplomats — in direct breach of the Vienna convention.” The EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas called it “a deliberate choice to escalate and mock” peace efforts.
> The strikes come as US President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin as he seeks to forge a peace deal to end the war. Ukraine has made Western-backed security guarantees a central demand in any settlement to prevent further Russian attacks. After the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some of his key European backers gathered in the White House on Aug. 18, Trump’s administration signaled it would support a European-led force helping guarantee Ukrainian security, providing intelligence assets and battlefield oversight and taking part in an air defense shield.
> But while Trump said afterward that he would soon convene a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, and that the Russian had agreed to the idea, Kremlin-watchers have cast doubt on Putin’s intentions. The Russian president has prevaricated, dragging his heels on any direct meeting with Zelenskyy and on peace negotiations. Moscow has doubled down on its asks, including demanding that Kyiv cede the entire Donbas region, among them key strategic strongholds that Russia does not control. Zelenskyy has ruled that out, saying doing so would provide Putin a springboard for a future invasion. Russia on Wednesday also rejected the idea of European peacekeeping troops serving in Ukraine — contradicting Trump’s claim that Putin would accept them under a peace deal.
> Thursday’s attack on Kyiv comes on the same day as the EU’s defense ministers are due to arrive in Copenhagen to discuss how to put more pressure on Russia via both sanctions and support for Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said EU delegation staffers were safe, and called for Russia to “stop its indiscriminatory attacks on civilian infrastructure immediately.” European Council President António Costa said the damage to the EU delegation building in Kyiv overnight was “deliberate,” adding that he was “horrified” by the Russian attacks. But, he said, “The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people.”
> European Parliament President Roberta Metsola condemned “another indiscriminate Russian attack during this senseless aggression,” calling the delegation “the EU’s voice on the ground in Ukraine” in a post on X. “I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace and chooses terror,” the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a statement on social media. “Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families and all Ukrainians enduring this aggression,” she continued.