EU condemns Russian attack on Kyiv office

The US State Department has approved a $825 million (€706 million) arms sale to Ukraine, including air-launched cruise missiles. 

The sale will cover 3,350 ERAM Extended Range Attack Munition missiles, 3,350 GPS guidance kits, along with components, spare parts and other accessories, the department said in a statement on Thursday.

"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe," it said.

ERAM missiles have a strike range of 240 kilometers to over 400 kilometers (150-250 miles).

It is unclear whether there would be restrictions on their use. 

The US Defense Department has blocked Ukraine from using another missile system, US-made ATCAMS, from striking targets inside Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Ukraine would use funding from NATO allies Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway in addition to US foreign military financing to pay for ERAM missiles and other equipment, the State Department said. 

Congress has been notified of the sale, which it still needs to approve.

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump "was not happy" when he learned that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight, killing at least 15 people and damaging buildings, including the British Council in Kyiv and EU offices.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said Trump was "not surprised" by the latest attack by Russia on the Ukrainian capital.

"These are two countries that have been at war for a very long time," Leavitt added. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

She also said Trump will make an additional statement on the situation later on Thursday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday it was "obvious" that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not be having a face-to-face summit, despite previous assurances from the United States to that end.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump also cast doubt on a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting, despite previously saying "arrangements for a meeting" between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders had begun.

Speaking beside French President Emmanuel Macron, Merz said their cabinets would discuss Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine "in light of the fact that there will obviously not be a meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin, unlike what was agreed between President Trump and President Putin last week when we were together in Washington."

A New York Times report accuses Russia or its proxies of flying surveillance drones over routes that the US and its allies use to ferry military supplies through Germany.

The newspaper quoted US and other Western officials as saying Russia was using the drones to collect information that could be used to boost a sabotage campaign against the West and to assist Moscow troops fighting in Ukraine.

The US daily newspaper said the Russian drone flights were concentrated in Germany's eastern state of Thuringia.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was not surprised by the report. During talks with his Spanish counterpart in Berlin, Pistorius said the German armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, were not responsible for surveilling German civilian territory.    

"But yes, that drones are also somewhere over the ports and railway facilities should surprise no one. However, there is not terribly much we can do about it," Pistorius said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that he had not read the story closely, "but it’s hard to imagine, because then the Germans would have seen it clearly, and they would hardly have kept quiet. So, of course, all this looks more like another newspaper fake."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should come to the negotiating table if he is serious about peace.

Von der Leyen said she spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump after a Russian attack in Kyiv damaged an EU office. 

"Just spoke with President Zelenskyy, then President Donald Trump, following the massive strike on Kyiv which also hit our EU offices," she posted on X.

"Putin must come to the negotiating table. We must secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine with firm and credible security guarantees."

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow and Kyiv held rounds of peace talks the following month — first in Belarus, and later in Turkey.

Those negotiations failed after the two sides disagreed on key points, including Russia requiring that Ukraine abandon its ambitions to join NATO and limit its military.

But 2025 has seen a renewed diplomatic push:

Donald Trump's return to the White House in January marked a renewal of efforts toward a ceasefire deal.

In late February, he hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. That meeting ended abruptly after an acrimonious argument that played out in front of watching journalists.

In a bid to apply pressure on Ukraine, the US suspended military aid in March and stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. 

Kyiv agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia refused, saying that the "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed before a full truce could be implemented.

By mid-April, frustration in Washington had grown to the point that Trump said the US was ready to abandon the peace process unless significant progress was made.

In early May, Russia unilaterally implemented a three-day ceasefire

After European leaders urged Putin to extend that truce, the Russian president proposed a resumption of direct talks in Istanbul that were frozen in 2022. Neither Putin nor Zelenskyy attended those negotiations, with low-level delegations instead being sent to the Turkish city. The talks resulted in an exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) and a pledge to continue the dialogue.

Two more rounds of talks in June and July also failed to secure any meaningful progress on a lasting peace agreement, or even a brief ceasefire.

During a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in late July, Trump set a deadline of "10 or 12" days for Putin to end the war.

In August, Trump hosted Putin for a historic summit in the US state of Alaska.

However, despite Trump claiming the meeting was "productive," the summit was inconclusive, with no deals signed.

Later in August, European leaders backed Zelenskyy in his return to the White House to press Trump on security guarantees and block territorial concessions. It was later suggested that Zelenskyy and Putin would soon meet for peace talks. 

The barrage of drones and missiles Russia launched on Kyiv overnight is the deadliest attack since the Alaska summit.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has joined European leaders in roundly condemning Russia for its overnight attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

"Russia showed its true face again last night," Merz said in a post on X.

"We condemn the severe attacks against the civilian population in the strongest terms," the chancellor added.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ankara is prepared to facilitate high-level peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The two warring neighbors have held three rounds of negotiations since Russia invaded in February 2022.

No substantive agreement on a ceasefire was reached after any of those meetings, although Russia and Ukraine did agree to large-scale prisoner of war swaps when the two sides met in Istanbul in May, June and July.

In their telephone conversation, Erdogan also told Zelenskyy that Turkey — a NATO member — would help bolster Ukraine's security after a peace deal is reached, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Germany has also condemned Russia over the attacks.

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who is on a visit to Estonia, said Russia's "horrific attacks" are proof that Vladimir Putin is not interested in ending the war.

"Instead of aiming for peace, Putin is relying on even more terror," Wadephul said on X.

The minister said Germany and its EU partners would discuss their response to the latest "escalation" at a meeting on Saturday in Copenhagen.

The British foreign office has also summoned the Russian ambassador to the UK in the wake of last night's attacks on Kyiv, which struck the British Council in Ukraine.

"The killing and destruction must stop," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement on X.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called Russia's strikes on Kyiv on Thursday a "terrible attack" that showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not at all interested in peace or even a ceasefire, not at all."

"He's going on [with] what he has been doing all the time: attacking Ukraine, killing Ukrainian civilians and being an imperialist at its best," he added. 

Asked by DW's chief political correspondent Nina Haase about the consequences of the attack, Pistorius said: "This is not about a reaction to that very particular attack, and especially not when it comes to delivery [of] particular weapons or new systems. We are delivering and providing permanently, as you know, and we are increasing our engagement in the months and years to come."

"So, this is not about a reaction to that. It's horrible, and it's proved once more what I said."

The death toll from the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital has risen to at least 18, the head of the Kyiv military administration has said.

In a post on Telegram, Timur Tkachenko said that four children were among the dead.

Rescue workers were still combing through the debris of multiple buildings that were destroyed by the attacks, so casualty figures could still climb further.

The European Union's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc would summon Russia's envoy over last night's attack on Kyiv, which damaged the headquarters of the bloc's delegation to Ukraine.

Kallas said she had spoken with EU workers in Kyiv, telling them that their "resolve to keep supporting Ukraine gives us strength."

The former Estonian prime minister also condemned Moscow for targeting a diplomatic mission.

Ursula von der Leyen has delivered more remarks following Russia's attacks last night, which struck the office of the EU delegation in Kyiv, among other buildings.

The European Commission president said two Russian missiles had landed 50 meters (165 feet) from the delegation within 20 seconds.

"This is another grim reminder of what is at stake," von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels.

"It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing civilians — men women and children — and even targeting the EU," she added.

Von der Leyen said the bloc is applying "maximum pressure" on Moscow amid Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine, which have shown no signs of relenting despite renewed diplomatic efforts in recent weeks.

The EU chief said a 19th package of "hard biting sanctions" was imminent, adding that the bloc is "advancing work on the Russian frozen assets to contribute to Ukraine's defense and reconstruction."

She added that these measures would ensure "strong, unwavering support to Ukraine — our neighbor, pattern, friend and our future member."

Von der Leyen also said she would travel to seven EU member states that border Russia and Belarus to express the bloc's "full solidarity" and update them on efforts to build a European defense industry, in particular through the bloc's joint defense instrument SAFE.

French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly condemned Russia's massive bombing of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Air Force said 629 missiles and drones had been fired overnight.

"This is Russia's idea of peace. Terror and barbarism," Macron said on X.

He said France "condemns these senseless and cruel attacks in the strongest possible terms."

Macron also reiterated his government's "full support to the Ukrainian people, and deepest compassion for all the grieving families."