Ukraine: Russia Launched Major Attack  02/26 06:17

   Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine 
overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as U.S. and Ukrainian 
envoys prepared to hold more talks in Geneva on ending the war that is now in 
its fifth year.

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 
missiles at Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as 
U.S. and Ukrainian envoys prepared to hold more talks in Geneva on ending the 
war that is now in its fifth year.

   The nighttime bombardment, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted 
critical infrastructure and residential areas across eight regions of Ukraine, 
Zelenskyy said. Dozens of people, including children, were injured, officials 
said, though authorities did not immediately publish a confirmed total.

   Zelenskyy said late Wednesday he had spoken by phone with U.S. President 
Donald Trump and thanked him for his "efforts and engagement" in pursuing peace 
negotiations.

   The U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv are continuing but are 
deadlocked on the issue of the future of Ukrainian territory that Russia claims 
as its own.

   Trump representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were also 
discussing nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva before turning to the war 
in Europe, were due to meet with Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's National 
Security and Defense Council. They also joined Trump's call with Zelenskyy.

   Washington is looking to keep momentum in its yearlong push to stop the 
fighting and overcome deep enmity between the warring countries.

   Ukrainian and European officials have accused Russian President Vladimir 
Putin of feigning interest in peace negotiations, hoping to avoid punitive U.S. 
measures such as additional sanctions while pressing forward with the invasion.

   Thursday's talks between the American and Ukrainian envoys were to address 
details of a possible postwar recovery plan for Ukraine and discuss 
preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Moscow officials, perhaps 
next week, according to Zelenskyy.

   He said he has also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner 
exchange.

   Russia returned 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine, and got back 35 
bodies of its fallen troops, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian 
delegation at previous talks with Ukraine, said Thursday. He did not say when 
the exchange happened.

   Russia struck gas infrastructure in the Poltava region and electrical 
substations in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Zelenskyy said. Emergency 
crews responded in five other regions, as well as in the capital.

   Ukraine's air defenses shot down most of the Russian missiles, Zelenskyy 
said, crediting Western partners for timely delivery of additional air defense 
interceptors. Ukraine needs foreign help to sustain its fight against Russia's 
bigger forces.

   Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged allied countries to provide 
more military aid.

   "When the whole world demands Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, 
Putin bets on more terror, attacks and aggression," Sybiha said in a post on 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.