Russia and Ukraine launch aerial attacks amid proposed ceasefire talks

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a fire engine and school buses burn after a Russian drone hit them when firefighters were putting out the fire at a lyceum following Russian drone attack in Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial blows overnight Saturday, with both sides reporting more than 100 enemy drones over their respective territories.

The attack comes less than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Putin said that he supported a truce in principle but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is agreed. Kyiv has already endorsed the truce proposal, although Ukrainian officials have publicly raised doubts as to whether Moscow will commit to such a deal.

In a statement Saturday, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of building up forces along the border.

“The buildup of Russian forces indicates that Moscow intends to keep ignoring diplomacy. It is clear that Russia is prolonging the war,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader also stressed that Kyiv’s troops were maintaining their presence in Russia’s Kursk region after U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that “thousands” of Ukrainian troops are surrounded by the Russian military.

“The operation of our forces in the designated areas of the Kursk region continues,” Zelenskyy said. “Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region. There is no encirclement of our troops.”

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia had launched a barrage of 178 drones and two ballistic missiles over the country overnight. The barrage was a mixture of Shahed-type attack drones and imitation drones designed to confuse air defenses. Some 130 drones were shot down, while 38 more were lost en route to their targets.

Russia attacked energy facilities, causing significant damage, said Ukraine’s private energy company DTEK.

Russia struck energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, DTEK said in a statement on Saturday. Some residents were left without electricity.

“The damage is significant. Energy workers are already working on the ground. We are doing everything possible to restore power to homes as soon as possible,” the energy firm said.

Meanwhile, in Russia’s Volgograd region, Gov. Andrei Bocharov confirmed that falling drone debris had sparked a fire in the Krasnoarmeysky district of the city close to a Lukoil oil refinery, but provided no further details. Nearby airports temporarily halted flights, local media outlets reported. No casualties were reported.

The Volgograd refinery has been targeted by Kyiv’s forces on several occasions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, most recently in a drone attack on Feb. 15.

The Associated Press