Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has alleged that the US's "silence" after recent Russian attacks is encouraging President Vladimir Putin, following Moscow's largest aerial attack yet.
The overnight attack saw Russia fire 367 drones and missiles – the highest number in a single night since Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
At least 12 people, including three children, were killed and dozens more injured in widespread strikes across Ukraine. They came a day after one of the heaviest assaults on the capital Kyiv in months.
US President Donald Trump reacted late on Sunday by telling reporters: "I'm not happy with what Putin is doing. He's killing a lot of people."
Ukraine's Air Force said that since 20:40 on Saturday local time (17:40 GMT), Russia had carried out strikes using 298 drones and 69 cruise and ballistic missiles.
The air force said it had shot down 45 cruise missiles and destroyed 266 UAVs, with most regions in Ukraine affected and hits recorded in 22 locations. Rescuers were working in more than 30 cities and villages, Zelensky said.
Despite mounting international calls, Russia has continued to intensify its aerial campaign, showing no sign of halting its offensive and ignoring calls for a ceasefire.
In a pointed message to Trump – who has previously claimed that Putin is interested in ending the war – Zelensky said: "The world may go on vacation, but the war continues, despite weekends and weekdays.
"This cannot be ignored. America's silence, and the silence of others in the world, only encourages Putin."
Zelensky warned that Russia's "brutality cannot be stopped" without "strong pressure on the Russian leadership."
Trump's first comments on the latest strikes came hours later at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey, as he was preparing to return to Washington.
"I'm not happy with Putin. I don't know what's wrong with him. What the hell happened to him?" Trump said.
He declined to give any details about what his response would be.
Until then, the only reaction to the Russian barrage from senior US officials came from Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine.
In a post on X, he published a photo purportedly showing smoke billowing in the night sky over the Ukrainian capital after the Russian attacks.
"This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now," Kellogg wrote.
The 1977 protocols are amendments to the Geneva Convention, which sets out internationally agreed rules of conduct in war.
Of the people killed, three in the Zhytomyr region to the west of Kyiv were children – all siblings, according to Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa. In a statement on X, she identified them as eight-year-old Stanislav, Tamara, 12, and Roman, 17.
When Zelensky refers to "American silence", he likely means the further sanctions Washington has so far resisted imposing on Moscow for its continued invasion.
His argument is that Russia's war machine is not being starved sufficiently, and that the Kremlin is not being incentivised enough to meaningfully engage in ceasefire talks.
Trump has said he wants to use more of a carrot than stick when it comes to convincing Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, but, aside from direct Ukraine-Russia talks and further prisoner of war exchanges, there has been little to no progress on bringing a pause in fighting closer, despite the US president's growing impatience.
Despite Kyiv's European allies preparing further sanctions for Russia, the US has said it will either continue trying to broker these peace talks, or "walk away" if progress does not follow.
With Moscow's continued, maximalist demands for peace, Putin deciding not to show up at recent ceasefire negotiations in Turkey, and 48 hours of heavy aerial bombardments for Ukraine, it is hard to see what the Kremlin would have to do in order for the White House to adopt a tougher stance.
Russia's defence ministry said it had inflicted damage on targets including military airfields, ammunition depots and electric warfare stations, claiming damage across 142 areas.
According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, 13 regions were attacked, with more than 60 people injured, 80 residential buildings damaged, and 27 fires recorded.
Klymenko called it a "combined, ruthless strike aimed at civilians".
Two women, aged 85 and 56, were killed after a house in Kupiansk was hit, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region.
In the Kyiv region, four people were killed and 16 injured, including three children, DSNS said.
