Russian strikes kill 1 as US and Ukraine officials wrap up third day of diplomatic talks

KYIV Ukraine AP Russian missile drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least three people in Ukraine after U S and Ukrainian representatives wrapped up a third day of talks aimed at ending the war A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night local representatives stated while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter in what Ukrainian representatives call weaponizing the cold Two people were killed and seven others wounded Sunday in shelling by Russian troops in Ukraine s Kharkiv region according to the regional police The latest round of attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Saturday evening he had a substantive phone call with American administrators engaged in talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida He disclosed he had been given an update over the phone by U S and Ukrainian representatives at the talks Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace Zelenskyy wrote on social media Speaking Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum U S President Donald Trump s outgoing Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg commented efforts to end the war were in the last meters He reported a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of terrain primarily the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Russia controls most of of Donbas its name for Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk which along with two southern regions it illegally annexed three years ago The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow s invasion of Ukraine and is not in facility but it requirements reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents Kellogg is due to leave his post in January and was not present at the talks in Florida Separately authorities declared the leaders of the United Kingdom France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday Meanwhile Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed the Trump administration s new national protection strategy In comments published Sunday by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti he announced the strategy was encouraging There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations he reported The document distributed Friday by the White House makes clear that the U S wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U S interest to reestablish strategic stability with Russia Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine Source