Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of a new “massive” Russian attack on Ukraine. In a post on X, the Ukrainian leader said intelligence suggested Moscow had “prepared missiles” for an attack “within the next 48 hours.”
"Please take care of yourself and pay attention to air raid alerts," he wrote.
This comes after Ukrainian authorities said Russian missile strikes in the Kiev region on Friday killed at least 10 people and wounded about 100. The attacks reportedly hit an arms exhibition attended by representatives of the Ukrainian defense industry.
Five more people were killed after airstrikes with guided bombs in Slovyansk, according to Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, Latvia's Foreign Minister confirmed that the Latvian consulate in Slovyansk was damaged in the attacks.
Responding to the news in a statement posted on social media, Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, said the attack on the consulate "underlines Moscow's complete disregard for international law."
"Latvia has our full support," she added.
Zelenskyy will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, as the US and Ukraine continue to discuss peace proposals to end the war, which began after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he had spoken with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, about efforts to end the conflict.
"A good and important conversation about how to activate diplomacy and bring peace closer," he said.
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sat down with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, foreign ministers' summit in the Philippines.
According to the Kremlin, Lavrov used the meeting to warn Washington against continuing arms sales to Kiev.
"Lavrov briefed his American counterpart on the current situation along the front line and stressed that it would be unacceptable to further arm the Kiev regime," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rubio said the pair had a "good" and "candid" conversation, but declined to provide further details.
Asked specifically about the Kremlin statement, Rubio said: "We sell weapons through PURL, which is an initiative that we have through NATO and we are involved in that. There has been no change in our policy in that regard. We want a peace agreement. We want the war to end."
