KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least nine people, officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought more American and European help during a visit to Norway.
Zelenskyy was joined in Norway by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end the war. Jared Kushner, another envoy who is U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was due to attend a meeting with Zelenskyy by videoconference.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were also scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy in Norway's capital.
“We are maintaining all contacts that can help bring peace,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X after he arrived in Oslo. He said officials gathered in Norway would discuss strengthening Ukraine's air defenses and joint production of weapons.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow hopes a meeting in Russia between the envoys and Russian President Vladimir Putin can be organized soon, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
“We highly appreciate the mediation efforts of the American negotiators,” Peskov said.
Zelenskyy speaks with Rubio after U.S. support slows
With further U.S. support for Ukraine in doubt as relations between Zelenskyy and Trump sour again, the Ukrainian leader said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a trip to Asia.
That conversation came after Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers Monday that he believes “some political decision has been made to slow down ... support for us.”
Ukraine has nearly run out of American-made Patriot air-defense interceptors that it needs to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles, according to Zelenskyy, who has pleaded for Washington to send more. But he said the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles that other countries have purchased for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also said he sought Rubio’s help to ensure that the United States continues to share vital intelligence with Ukraine after Kyiv received no or belated warnings about Russian missile attacks in recent days.
The Ukrainian leader also said speed restrictions were still in place on his country's use of Starshield, the military-grade version of U.S. company SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink, hampering battlefield operations.
Trump also has waived sanctions on Russia, a move that Zelenskyy slammed as helping Putin push on with Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which will hit the five-year mark in February.
Zelenskyy said he had “a substantive conversation” with Rubio.
“I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
Rubio, who arrived Tuesday in India on an official trip, denied that the U.S. is withholding assistance from Ukraine.
“Nothing has changed,” he told reporters.
The Patriot ammunition Ukraine needs is in short supply and is also required elsewhere in the world, Rubio said.
“There has not been some deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine,” he said.
Europe is helping Ukraine avoid surrender, official says
With the Russian army held up on the front line, Putin is trying to bomb Ukraine into submission while robbing it of vital U.S. support, Western leaders and analysts say.
European countries, worried about Russia’s plans on the continent and viewing Ukraine as a bulwark against Moscow's ambitions, are trying to take up the slack of any falloff in U.S. supplies, but some key assets are American-made.
European countries and European Union institutions have allocated 237 billion euros ($266 billion) to support Ukraine, compared with 115 billion euros ($129 billion) from the U.S., according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday questioned whether U.S. negotiators have been honest brokers in peace efforts. Ukrainian officials say the Trump administration has encouraged Kyiv to surrender land to Russia in return for peace.
“Although American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for … one and a half years now," Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin’s terms "because Europe has been supporting Ukraine,” Kallas said.
Russian attacks cause power outages in 12 Ukrainian regions
Four people were killed and 27 others wounded, including children, in Russian missile and drone attacks on the Kyiv region over the past day, regional police said.
Three were killed and six were wounded in the Obukhiv district, where warehouses were damaged, police said. In the Bucha district, one woman was killed and 21 people were wounded, eight of them children, while hundreds of buildings were damaged, according to police.
On Tuesday morning, three people were killed and four injured when two vehicles caught fire in a Russian attack on the Kyiv-Odesa highway, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. The dead included the driver of a shuttle bus that was hit. The bus transports people from Kyiv to the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
Two more people were killed in a Russian attack Tuesday on warehouses on the outskirts of Dnipro in central Ukraine, authorities said.
National grid operator Ukrenergo reported power outages in 12 regions of Ukraine following the Russian attacks.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centers, port infrastructure and three cargo ships in the port of Reni in the Odesa region. It said that another bulk carrier was hit at sea on its way to Odesa.
Meanwhile, air defenses intercepted 136 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions overnight, the ministry said.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
