Kyiv Residents Doubt Zelenskyy-Trump Talks After Latest Russian Strike

Kyiv residents were clearing debris on Tuesday after another Russian strike on the capital's Dniprovskyi district injured five people and damaged residential buildings.

Iryna Panina, 36, was woken around 2 a.m. by the sound of a jet-powered Shahed drone. Russia is now deploying these faster drones in large numbers, and Ukraine has not yet been able to intercept them as effectively as the slower, propeller-driven models.

"It's a matter of seconds — you don't have time to get away or take cover," Panina said, describing how an explosion and blast wave tore out her window and brought down debris. She escaped unharmed.

Her hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough are fading. Referring to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to the United States, she said international efforts to end the war have dragged on for too long without concrete results.

"As an ordinary person just trying to live and survive each day, I find it hard to believe they fully understand what is actually happening, how difficult it is and how much ordinary people are suffering," she said.

Oleksandr Kondratiuk, 56, said his family had planned to celebrate his mother's 80th birthday in a flat that was damaged in the strike. He said he did not expect Tuesday's meeting between Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump to produce results.

"There need to be some other people — not from our country, but from other countries — who are also interested in ending the war," he said.

Vasyl Nikonenko, a 73-year-old pensioner displaced from Mariupol, said he had watched his native city destroyed and now endures repeated strikes in Kyiv. He described his fear as dulled, but said he worries for his wife.

Like other residents, he remains sceptical of the talks. "Trump is not the kind of man with whom it is possible to negotiate. He has finances on his mind," he said.