Ukraine reports talks with West on planes, missiles, as new Russian strike leaves 3 dead

Ukraine and its Western allies are engaged in "fast-track" talks on the possibility of equipping the invaded country with long-range missiles and military aircraft, a top Ukrainian presidential aide said Saturday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine's supporters in the West "understand how the war is developing" and the need to supply planes capable of providing cover for the armoured fighting vehicles that the United States and Germany pledged at the beginning of the month.

However, in remarks to online video channel Freedom, Podolyak said that some of Ukraine's Western partners maintain a "conservative" attitude to arms deliveries, "due to fear of changes in the international architecture."

Russia and North Korea have accused the West of prolonging and taking a direct role in the war by sending Kyiv increasingly sophisticated weapons.

"We need to work with this. We must show (our partners) the real picture of this war," Podolyak said, without naming specific countries.

"We must speak reasonably and tell them, for example: 'This and this will reduce fatalities, this will reduce the burden on infrastructure. This will reduce security threats to the European continent, this will keep the war localized.'"

Hungarian pushback

The U.S. and Germany agreed Wednesday to share advanced tanks with Ukraine along with the Bradley and Marder vehicles promised earlier, a decision that led to criticism not only from the Kremlin but from the prime minister of Hungary.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asserted Friday that Western countries providing weapons and money to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia have "drifted" into becoming active participants in the conflict. Orban has refused to send weapons to neighbouring Ukraine and sought to block EU funds earmarked for military aid.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it would summon Hungary's ambassador to complain about Orban's remarks.

U.S. President Joe Biden's announcement that the U.S. would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine reversed months of arguments by Washington that they were too difficult for Ukrainian troops to operate and maintain.

The U.S. decision persuaded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to agree to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany's stocks and to allow European countries with tanks to send some of theirs.

Western weapons have proven essential to Ukraine's defence while stoking ever-higher tensions with Moscow. Russia's Defence Ministry said Saturday that Ukrainian forces used U.S.-made HIMARS rockets to strike a hospital in the eastern Ukrainian town of Novoaidar, killing 14 people.

Novoaidar is located in Luhansk province, which is almost entirely under the control of Russian forces or Russian-backed separatists. The Russian Defence Ministry alleged the hospital was deliberately targeted. Its claim of a strike could not be immediately verified.

"A deliberate missile attack on a known operating civilian medical institution is an unconditional grave war crime of the Kyiv regime," the ministry said, according to Russian news agencies.

Deadly strike on eastern city

Amid the news of the Western pledges of heavy tanks, Russia bombarded Ukraine with missiles, exploding drones and artillery shells this week.

Attacks continued Saturday, when Russian missiles struck the city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province.

The missiles fell in a residential area, killing three civilians, wounding 14 and damaging four high-rise apartment buildings, a hotel and garages, Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

"Kostyantynivka is a city relatively far from the front line, but still, it constantly suffers from enemy attacks. Everyone who remains in the city exposes themselves to mortal danger," Kyrylenko said. 

Twisted metal, the charred remains of household items and at least one car lay scattered across a Kostyantynivka courtyard as rescuers worked to clear the rubble. Fresh bloodstains were also visible.

Factory worker Iryna Maltseva, 42, said she was watching television when the explosion violently rattled her living room.

"I opened my eyes and everything was blown out," she said. "I was covered in blood. Mom was sitting in the bedroom, also covered in blood."

In a Telegram post earlier Saturday, Kyrylenko reported that Russian attacks in the province killed four civilians in all and wounded seven others in 24 hours.

2 dead in Friday strike

Russian rockets hit a residential area the Donestsk town of Chasiv Yar on Friday night, killing of two people and wounding five more, the governor said. Photos attached to Kyrylenko's post showed a three-storey school building on fire.

Donetsk province, where the territory is roughly split between Russian and Ukrainian control, has become the battle epicentre of the war as Moscow tries to jump-start a months-long, grinding offensive to capture the city of Bakhmut.

Chasiv Yar lies on a hill strategically located for the defence of Bakhmut, and has come under intensified Russian shelling.

Capturing Bakhmut would allow Russian troops to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines and potentially pave the way for them to threaten Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Russian forces continued ground attacks around Bakhmut and Avdiivka, another Donetsk city to the south, while Ukrainian troops were on the offensive in southern and northeast Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said Saturday.