Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine as US peace deadline nears

Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure officials saidThe latest bombardment in Russiarsquos escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept 2 deadline set by US President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the threeyear war under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesnrsquotNo date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine Two previous rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swapsRussia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones as well as one ballistic missile during the night the Ukrainian air force said The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv which is Ukrainersquos secondlargest city President Volodymyr Zelenskyyrsquos hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the southldquoRussia does not change its strategyrdquo Zelenskyy said ldquoTo effectively counter this terror we need a systemic strengthening of defense more air defense more interceptors and more resolve so that Russia feels our responserdquoTrump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine including vital Patriot air defense systems and threatened to slap additional sanctions on Russia It was Trumps toughest stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six months agoBut some US lawmakers and European government officials expressed misgivings that the 50day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the fightingOther US ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to persuade the Russian leader to stop his invasion of neighboring Ukraine Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war many of them along the more than 1000kilometer 620mile front line and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12000 Ukrainian civilians the United Nations saysThe Institute for the Study of War a Washington think tank said Tuesday that ldquoPutin holds a theory of victory that posits that Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for Ukraine and Ukrainersquos ability to defend itselfrdquoTrump said the US is providing additional weapons for Ukraine but European countries are paying for them While Ukraine and European officials were relieved at the US commitment after months of hesitation some hoped Washington might shoulder some of the costldquoWe welcome President Trumprsquos announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine although we would like to see the US share the burdenrdquo European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday ldquoIf we pay for these weapons itrsquos our supportrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever