London – Volodymyr President Zelenskyy said that last night’s missile attacks and drones launched by Russia showed that Moscow’s support claimed for a ceasefire in Ukraine was not “real.”
Ukraine authorities reported air strikes in several regions in the country, including drone attacks in hospitals in the northeast city of Sumy. The series came a few hours after President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to stop the attack on energy infrastructure as part of the White House peace effort.
“Now in many areas you really can hear what is really needed by Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote in Telegram. “Around 40 shahed in our sky, air defense works,” added the President, referring to the strike drone designed by Iran used by Russia.
“Unfortunately, there is a hit, and precisely in civil infrastructure,” continued Zelenskyy. “It is precisely such a night attack by Russia that destroys our energy, our infrastructure, the normal life of Ukraine. And the fact that tonight is no exception shows that we must continue to suppress Russia for peace.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, March 18, 2025, President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Oval Office, February 28, 2025.
AFP Via Getty Images
The Ukraine Air Force reported a total of six missiles and 145 drones shooting to the country last night. Seventy -two drones were shot down, said the Air Force, with 56 others missing on flights without causing damage. Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, and Chernihiv were influenced by the attack, wrote the Air Force in Telegram.
“Today, Putin really refused a proposal for a complete ceasefire,” said Zelenskyy. “It would be appropriate for the world to reject all efforts by Putin to drag out the war in response.”
“Sanctions to Russia. Assistance to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the world free and works towards security guarantees,” the President added. “And only a real termination by Russia attacks on civil infrastructure as proof of the desire to end this war can bring peace closer.”
Kremlin said on Tuesday that the call between Trump and Putin was “the exchange of detailed and honest views.” Putin disagreed with the full 30 -day ceasefire proposed by the US and Ukraine, Kremlin’s statement said, with Russian leaders once again frame pauses in the battle that was beneficial for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Both parties agreed to be a ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks, said Kremlin, after that Putin “immediately gave relevant orders to Russian troops.”
Ukrainian troops used spotlights when they searched for drones in the sky above Kyiv during the Russian drone attack on March 18, 2025.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
A few hours later, Russian authorities reported drone attacks on oil depot facilities in the South Krasnodar region.
“Because of the fall of debris there was a fire in the oil depot,” the local administration said in a statement posted on the Telegram. “The pipe between the tank is damaged.”
The local authority reported that there were no casualties, despite adding that 30 workers were evacuated from the area and the operation was suspended.
The operational head office in the area Telegram Channel said the fire in the depot spread to more than 18,000 square feet in size through leakage in the tank. “Emergency services maintain the situation under control,” he said, noted that “179 people and 54 units of equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense said his troops shot down 57 Ukraine drones overnight.
The Russian Federal Air Transportation Agency Russia Rosaviatia said the operation was temporarily suspended at the airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhnekamsk, although it did not determine the reason. Flights at Russian airport regularly were disrupted during drone attacks.
Ukraine police officers, experts and rescuers collected debris drones that fell on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 18, 2025.
Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images
The White House said that on Tuesday after the call between Trump and Putin that the two leaders “agreed that the movement to peace would begin with energy and fire ceasefire infrastructure, as well as technical negotiations on the implementation of maritime weapons in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. This negotiation will soon begin in the Middle East.
Trump, at his own social media post on Tuesday night, said the conversation of the hours was “very good and productive.”
“We agreed to be a ceasefire immediately on all energy and infrastructure, with an understanding that we would work quickly to experience a complete ceasefire and, in the end, the end of a very terrible war between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote.
Trump also said that securing a 30-day ceasefire sought by Ukraine “would be difficult,” in a clip released from a pre-recording interview at Fox News.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler and Pshemyskiy Olessiy contributed to this report.