- Air defenses shot down 30 out of 48 various types of drones launched by Russia, claims Ukraine’s Air Force
ISTANBUL
Moscow and Kyiv on Sunday accused each other of overnight airstrikes as US President Donald Trump is set to host his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida to discuss a 20-point peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement on Telegram that its air defenses downed 25 Ukrainian drones, 12 of which were shot down over the Samara region bordering neighboring Kazakhstan.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Press Secretary Artem Korenyako said overnight that temporary restrictions on aircraft arrivals and departures had been imposed at Samara's international airport. The restrictions were later lifted.
No reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure were provided by either local authorities in Samara or other regions mentioned in Russia’s statement, namely the Belgorod, Kursk, Saratov, Volgograd, and Rostov regions.
Russian state news agency RIA also reported that more than 300 flights were either delayed or cancelled at Moscow's Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports.
Separately, Ukraine’s Air Force claimed on Telegram that the country’s air defenses shot down 30 out of 48 various types of drones launched by Russia.
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported a fire in an apartment building and damage to a lyceum building in the southern city of Odesa as a result of the overnight attack, but no one was killed or injured.
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper specified that the fire was caused by a drone hitting the roof of a two-story residential building.
“Information about the victims is being clarified. Relevant services are working at the scene,” Kiper added.
The reports come as Trump is set to host Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, later Sunday, to discuss the US-proposed peace plan for the nearly four-year conflict and security guarantees, according to the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.
The Ukrainian president arrived in the US on Saturday following a visit to neighboring Canada, where Ottawa announced a new CAN$2.5 billion ($1.8 billion) economic aid package for Kyiv.
In an interview with Axios on Friday, Zelenskyy said he was willing to put the entire 20-point peace plan to a national referendum if the final proposal included "a very difficult" decision on territory, which he previously described as one of two points on which they failed to reach an agreement with the US, along with the operation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
While a 28-point plan, made public in November, was initially proposed by the US side to end the conflict, subsequent discussions have led to the drafting of a refined 20-point framework.