Russia pummelled Ukraine’s capital with drones and missiles on Saturday as President Volodymyr Zelensky was headed to the US to meet with President Donald Trump. Zelensky said the attack showed Russia did not want to end its invasion launched in February 2022 that has left tens of thousands dead.Ahead of Zelensky’s talks in Florida with Trump on Sunday, Russia said Kyiv and its EU backers were trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting. The barrage of drones and missiles killed two people, wounded dozens and cut power and heating to hundreds of thousands of Kyiv region residents during freezing temperatures, Ukraine authorities said.Some 2,600 residential buildings were hit in the attack, as well as more than 300 schools, pre-schools or social services buildings, Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.Zelensky said some 500 drones and 40 missiles had pounded the capital and its surrounding region.”Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals (missiles) and Shaheds (drones) speak for them,” he said. “They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering,” he added. Just as Zelensky departed for the US, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency announced a new probe in which it said some MPs were implicated. It tried to raid parliamentary offices but was blocked by security personnel.During the Russian onslaught, which lasted 10 hours, AFP reporters in Kyiv heard loud explosions, some accompanied by bright flashes that turned the sky orange.The Russian army said it used hypersonic missiles and drones to target infrastructure and energy facilities “used in the interests of the armed forces of Ukraine”, as well as military sites. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the attack left about 600,000 people without power while authorities said apartment blocks, a university dormitory and a petrol station had been among buildings hit. Neighbouring Poland, a NATO member, scrambled jets and put air defences on alert during the attack, the Polish military said on social media.Air traffic at two airports in Poland near the Ukrainian border were temporarily suspended during the strikes, the country’s air navigation agency said.- Florida talks -Sunday’s meeting in Florida is to focus on a new, 20-point plan that would freeze the war on its current front line but could require Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarised buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelensky this week.The new plan, formulated with Ukraine’s input, is Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions, and differs markedly from an initial 28-point proposal by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia’s core demands.Trump, speaking to news outlet Politico on Friday, said of Zelensky’s plan that “he doesn’t have anything until I approve it”. He added: “So we’ll see what he’s got.” Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelensky said those were changing daily.”As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” he added.On the way to the US, Zelensky was making a stopover in Canada and was to speak in a video call with EU allies, he said.Zelensky added Saturday that the aim of talks was to reduce unresolved issues to a minimum.”Of course, today there are red lines for Ukraine and Ukrainian people. There are compromise proposals. All of these issues are very sensitive,” he said on X.Meanwhile, Ukraine needed European and US support to acquire weapons and funds, both of which were insufficient, Zelensky said — “in particular for the production of weapons and, most importantly, drones”.In negotiations, Ukraine’s “most important consideration — if we take certain steps — is that security guarantees should be strong and we should be protected”, he said.Zelensky added that Ukraine was working with the US on a roadmap for the country’s reconstruction which he said will require $700 billion to $800 billion.

Immediately following surprise US strikes targeting militants in Nigeria, it remained unclear who or what was actually hit as Washington and Abuja told slightly different stories.Complicating matters was the fact that the strikes were delayed by American President Donald Trump, apparently to prioritise the symbolism of launching the attack on Christmas — and allegations that Washington backed out of issuing a joint statement with the Nigerians.The two countries agree the strikes hit targets linked to Islamic State, but neither immediately provided details on which of Nigeria’s myriad armed groups were targeted.”Twenty-four hours after the bombing, neither Nigeria nor its so-called ‘international partners’ can provide clear, verifiable information about what was actually struck,” activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore said Saturday.Nigeria is battling multiple jihadist organisations, including several linked to Islamic State. Neighbouring countries are also fighting IS-linked groups, and there are worries those conflicts are spilling into the country.Mohammed Idris, the country’s information minister, said late Friday that the strikes “targeted ISIS elements attempting to penetrate Nigeria from the Sahel corridor”.More official clarity started to emerge Saturday, when Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, told AFP the strikes targeted Islamic State militants who were in the country to work with the Lakurawa jihadist group and “bandit” gangs.All three were targeted, and there were casualties, though it is unknown who was killed, and from which group, Bwala said.- Trump claims credit -Taking to social media the night of the strike, Trump was the first to take credit for the overnight Thursday into Friday strikes in northwestern Sokoto state — sparking worries from Nigerians that their sovereignty had been violated.Trump also told US outlet Politico that the strikes had been scheduled earlier than Thursday, “And I said, ‘nope, let’s give a Christmas present’.”The opposition People’s Democratic Party slammed the government for allowing “foreign powers” to “break the news of security operations in our country before our government does”.Early Friday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar insisted it was a joint operation, with Tinubu ultimately giving the go-ahead and Nigeria supplying intelligence for the strikes. Tuggar later told broadcaster Arise News that, while he was on the phone ahead of the strikes with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the two had agreed on issuing a joint statement, but Washington rushed out its own.- Villages hit by mistake -Late Friday, almost 24 hours after the strikes, it was Nigeria that finally provided clarity around what the targets were: “two major Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist enclaves” in Sokoto state’s Tangaza district, according to Idris.Other villages were hit by what the information minister said was debris from the strikes.Images from an AFP photographer in Offa, in neighbouring Kwara state, showed crumbled buildings, destroyed by the debris, with roofs caved in and belongings scattered among the wreckage.Explosions in Sokoto state’s Jabo town, also apparently from the debris, shook the community and “surprised us because this area has never been” a stronghold for armed groups, local resident Haruna Kallah told AFP. The munitions used were unclear. The US military released a video showing a navy ship launching what appeared to be missiles. Idris said “the strikes were launched from maritime platforms domiciled in the Gulf of Guinea”. But he also said “a total of 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were deployed using MQ-9 Reaper” drones.- Targets unknown -The choice to strike the northwest has sowed confusion among analysts, as Nigeria’s jihadists are mainly concentrated in the northeast.Some researchers have recently linked some members of the armed group known as Lakurawa — the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State — to Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), but other analysts have disputed those links.The strikes also come after a diplomatic spat between Washington and Abuja sparked by Trump saying the violence in the country amounted to “persecution” against Christians — a framing long used by the US religious right.The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject the accusations.The framing of Nigeria’s violence in religious terms, the lack of clarity around the targets and the fact that the strikes were delayed til Christmas all add to concerns from critics that the attack was bigger on symbolism than substance.Both countries have said that more strikes are on the table.