Russia Responds To Washington Talks With Mass Drone And Missile Strikes On Ukraine

Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles against Ukraine on August 19, in a kinetic response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House talks with US President Donald Trump and key European allies.

Ukrainian regional officials said that over 24 hours Russian shelling across the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions had claimed the lives of 15 people and injured at least 76 more.

It was reported that the Poltava region was hit particularly hard, leaving over 1,500 residents without electricity. In Chernihiv, drones damaged infrastructure and disrupted power supplies.

A Ukrainian drone attack late on August 19 knocked out power to areas of the Zaporizhzhya region under Russian control, Moscow-installed Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram.

Balitsky said crews were restoring power and switching affected areas to reserve lines. The work was made more difficult “by the danger of repeat strikes and by darkness,” he said.

Russian forces hold well over half of the Zaporizhzhya, but Kyiv maintains control of the region’s main administrative center.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha condemned Russia’s attacks, calling them “the opposite of peace,” while “hard work to advance peace was under way in Washington.”

Kyiv residents who spoke to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service appeared unenthused by the latest diplomatic moves.

“After they rolled a red carpet for [Russian President Vladimir Putin] I completely lost my faith in humanity as well as a belief that the situation can improve,” one woman said.

Another resident said that she was not sure it was a good idea for Zelenskyy to hold talks with Putin, whom she described as a “monster.”

“How to look him in the face, how much evil he has done? How to shake his hand? I cannot imagine it,” she added.

Nevertheless, the Washington talks ended with Trump pledging to get Putin to the negotiating table with Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president has repeatedly said he is available for talks but Putin has not. Following the Washington meetings, a Kremlin statement spoke vaguely about higher-level contacts between Moscow and Kyiv — but did not mention the two leaders by name.

“Any contacts involving the most senior leaders need to be prepared with the utmost care,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on August 19.

European leaders have voiced skepticism that Putin will come to talks without US pressure to do so. In Washington, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “We don’t know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. Therefore, persuasion is needed.”

Yet speaking to Fox News on August 19, Trump said Putin had agreed, during a phone call the previous day, to meet Zelenskyy.

“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks…It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” Trump added.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said later that both leaders have expressed a willingness to sit down with each other.

“[Trump] wants these two countries to engage in direct diplomacy,” she said at a White House briefing. He’s said that from the very beginning which is why he’s agreeable to the idea of having President Zelenskyy and President Putin get together, and I understand that accommodations for that meeting are under way.”

The latest Russian attacks underscore the growing toll on Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure. Russia denies deliberately targeting nonmilitary sites, but the strikes routinely destroy homes, hospitals, schools, and energy facilities.

Security guarantees for Ukraine were another key element in the Washington talks, with Zelenskyy saying a $90 billion program had been discussed for purchasing US weapons to defend Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also said US and European leaders discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, but there were no details, and many doubts remain.

Meanwhile, fighting along the front line has remained intense. Ukraine’s General Staff said on August 19 that 186 combat engagements were recorded in the past 24 hours, with Russia launching two missile strikes, 78 air strikes, and dropping 162 guided bombs.

The fiercest battles are concentrated near the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has issued a warning, emphasizing that the intensification of Russian assaults is devastating civilian life, especially in frontline communities.

“With 286 civilians killed and 1,388 injured, the July casualty number was the highest since May 2022, topping also those for June 2025,” the mission reported last week. It added that the sharp rise was primarily due to the increased use of aerial bombs and short-range drones.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, emphasized that the escalation is hitting vulnerable populations the hardest.

“Whether you are in a hospital or a prison, at home or at work, close to or far away from the front line, if you are in Ukraine today, you are at risk of getting killed or injured by the war,” Bell said.

“The risk is significantly higher than last year, and it continues to rise.”/Rferl/