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Ukraine strikes missile brigade accused of Sumy massacre

The US appears to have significantly reduced the amount of money it wants Ukraine to pay back for its support in the war with Russia.

Following a round of negotiations in Washington last week, the Trump administration reduced its estimated cost of US military assistance to Kyiv to $100 billion (£75bn) from $300 billion (£226bn), people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

Mr Trump is pushing Kyiv to sign a deal to share the profits on Ukraine’s rare minerals, as well as infrastructure, in a bid to recoup the billions given in aid and weapons to the war-torn country under the Biden administration.

Mr Zelensky has rejected the description of US aid as debt and is seeking better terms on the deal, which gives Ukraine no future security guarantees.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president said the negotiations on the deal were “positive” and more meetings were expected. Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, told Bloomberg News that the fractious deal could be signed “as early as this week”.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 97 drones in a heavy night of attacks.

It said it shot down 57 drones, with another 34 not reaching their targets likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures.

It did not specify what happened to the remaining six drones.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to travel to Paris later this week.

Mr Witkoff is set to meet Emmanuel Macron, while Mr Rubio will speak with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, sources familiar with the trip told Politico.

An official said the two sides will discuss Ukraine, Iran and trade relations in the wake of Donald Trump’s worldwide tariff threats.

The French president’s meeting with Mr Witkoff will come only days after the envoy met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow to try to push forward with ceasefire negotiations which has stalled in recent weeks.

Ukraine reportedly targeted another Russian brigade accused of conducting a deadly strike on the city of Sumy on Palm Sunday.

The base of the 112th missile brigade, a unit accused of deliberately targeting civilians, was attacked with drones early on Wednesday, according to local witnesses.

The reports came hours after Ukraine said it had struck Russia’s 448th brigade, the other unit said to be responsible for Sunday’s attack on Sumy that killed at least 34 people, injured more than 100 and sparked outrage from Kyiv and its allies.

Footage taken by local residents showed a large aerial drone crashing into a building, triggering a large explosion.

There is no official confirmation of the strike against the 112th brigade.

See 8.27am post for more details on the ‘terror bombing’ 112th brigade.

Ukraine’s parliament voted to extend martial law until August 6, a senior lawmaker said.

An overwhelming majority of 357 deputies supported the extension, which allows the country to continue mobilising troops and suspends the election cycle. One lawmaker voted against the bill.

Russian strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed one person and wounded three on Wednesday in an apparent so-called double-tap strike.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the region, said that Russian attacks had continued as rescue workers arrived on the scene.

“This is a deliberate tactic by Russia to prevent the rescue of the victims and to harm medics, rescuers, and police officers,” Mr Prokudin said.

Moscow’s forces have been repeatedly accused of using the brutal and illegal tactic throughout the three-year war in what Kyiv says is an attempt to kill or maim trained professionals and break the morale of Ukrainians.

Kherson was captured by Russian forces when they invaded in early 2022. It was liberated months later, but the city remains under constant Russian bombardment.

Should Russia ever face a war crimes court over its actions in Ukraine, the men of the 112th missile brigade may have some explaining to do.

Officially, their job is to support Russian troops in north-east Ukraine, using huge, truck-launched rockets to take out military targets far behind enemy lines.

Unofficially, they are also accused of “terror bombing”, such as this weekend’s Palm Sunday attack on the city of Sumy, which killed 34 people.

Just before 10.30am, an Iskander ballistic missile – a 21-foot projectile big enough to carry a nuclear warhead – slammed into Sumy’s down town area, packed with worshippers returning from church. Minutes later, in a so-called “double tap”, a second Iskander scattered cluster munitions as rescue workers rushed to help.

But Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, has pinned the blame on the 112th missile brigade – a unit Kyiv says specifically targets civilians.

Kyiv also blames the 448th brigade for the Sumy attack and on Tuesday targeted its base in a retaliatory strike.