Kiev, Okraine: Officials say Ukrainian drone attacks killed at least seven people, and Russian strikes against Odessa killed two people on Thursday, signing only a long-awaited agreement in Kiev and Washington to allow us to obtain Ukraine’s mineral resources.
Moscow-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo said the attacks in the Helsen area occupied in southern Ukraine hit a market in the town of Olshki, killing seven people and injuring more than 20 people.
“There were a lot of people in the market at the time of the attack,” Saldo wrote in the telegram. He said that after the first wave of strikes, Ukraine sent more drones to “end” any survivors.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Emergency Services Ministry said a Russian drone strike killed two people and injured 15 people in the Black Sea port city of Odesa earlier Thursday.
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said the barrage attacked apartment buildings, private houses, a supermarket and a school.
Video shared by Kiper on the telegram shows a high-rise building with severely damaged facades and broken shops and firefighters fighting the flames.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a drone attacked and ignited a fire at a gas station in the center of Kharkif, Ukraine's second largest city.
After the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had overlooked a proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire from the United States, which has been more than 50 days now.
“We also have some proposals – at least avoiding compelling civilian infrastructure and establishing lasting silence in the sky, at sea and on the land,” he said. “Russia responded to all of this with new shelling and new attacks.”
Regarding the Mineral Wealth Agreement, the United States and Ukraine signed an agreement on Wednesday to grant the United States access to Ukraine’s enormous mineral resources, finalizing a deal that could allow President Donald Trump to continue military aid to Kiev in terms of ongoing support for peace talks with Russia.
Zelenskyy initially proposed a deal as a way to help secure the future of Ukraine by connecting it with U.S. interests. Ukrainian officials said a previous version of the agreement would reduce Kiev’s junior partners and give Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources, but the version signed on Wednesday would be more beneficial to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that the signing of the mineral agreement was the “first result” of his meeting with the Vatican in the Vatican during the pope's funeral, calling the agreement “really historic.”
In his night speech, he said that under the signed agreement, no debt was paid to Kiev from past U.S. aid. He said the agreement would be sent to parliament for approval and that Ukraine was “interested in ensuring there were no delays in the agreement”.
According to Zelenskyy, the agreement is “real equality” and “creates opportunities for Ukraine’s investment.”
He added: “It was working with the United States and working in a fair way, when both the Ukrainian state and the United States could help us with a defense partnership.”
Nevertheless, the top U.S. diplomats underlined the uncertainty of the U.S. attempt to pursue a larger peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
“They are still far away,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday night on “Hannity” on Fox News Channel. “It's going to really make a real breakthrough here soon, otherwise I think the president will have to decide that we're going to spend more time investing in that.” ”
Tymofiy Mylovanov, former Minister of Economics and current president of the Kiev School of Economics, said Ukraine successfully defended its interests despite what he called “unthinkable pressure” in negotiations on the mineral agreement.
“It's a huge political and diplomatic victory,” Melovanov wrote on Facebook. “The deal looks fair.”
Mylovanov said the deal was not limited to selling to US buyers only. Instead, the deal acknowledges the contributions of both sides: Ukraine’s new project revenue form, and the potential for the U.S. to pass military aid, he said.
Kiev residents responded differently to the newly signed U.S.-Ukrainian economic agreement, and many say they don’t have time to fully understand the impact of the deal.
Among those who spoke to the Associated Press, Diana Abramova attended a rally in Independence Square, asking for information about the missing Ukrainian soldiers. Her father, Valentyn Stroyvans, disappeared in the fight last year.
“Whether it's about negotiations or anything else, any news is hard to accept,” Abramova said. “But I still believe and hope that any action will bring us closer to one thing: victory in Ukraine. The only victory.”
Natalia Vysotska, a 74-year-old university lecturer, said she was unfamiliar with the details of the agreement but was still cautiously optimistic.
“I don't know what these terms are – they may be bad for Ukraine at all. Nevertheless, if signed, our experts will definitely weigh the pros and cons. I hope it will be beneficial.”
Others shared more skeptical views. Iryna Vasylevska, 37, a resident of Kief, expressed frustration and disillusionment on the wider impact of the deal.
What she felt terrible was that “our land is just bargaining chips for the rest of the world, we don’t have all our protections, but rely on someone.”
“My vision is that we are not strengthening ourselves, but we continue to give all of it. I regret our land and our people,” she said.
Russia's reaction to minerals' reaction to signing is usually downplayed in Moscow during the Russian holiday. But Dmitry Medvedev, vice chairman of the Russian National Security Council, said Trump forced Ukraine to effectively use mineral resources to “pay” US military aid.
“Now, military supplies must be paid for with the domestic wealth of a vanishing country,” he claimed in an article on the telegram.
Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the Sovereignty Committee of the Russian Citizens' Assembly, told the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti that Zelenskyy effectively handed over Ukraine to “legitimate slavery.”
