Zelenskyy wrote on X: "In Washington we heard that Putin is supposedly ready to end the war – to meet at the leaders’ level and resolve key issues. But instead he chooses ballistics over any real steps toward peace. He kills children in order not to talk about when and how peace will come."

"Russia kills every day. Therefore, every day they must feel pain for what they are doing. And this is possible. The world’s sanctions. Tariffs. Support for Ukraine. Our strong army. Our ability to defend lives and respond powerfully to the Russian war machine. Eternal memory to all whom the Russian state has killed," he said.

He said imposing sanctions against Russia is needed.

"Tariffs are needed against those who sponsor this war in one way or another. The end of the war is possible thanks to strength, not words, thanks to the strength of pressure on the only one who continues the strikes and drags out any settlement," he said.

Russia’s latest deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities overnight including the capital, Kyiv, left four children dead and dozens injured, UN aid agencies reported on Thursday.

The youngest victim of the bombing raid was two-and-a-half years old, according to the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, which released video footage showing smoke billowing from a Kyiv apartment block with a massive hole where its roof had been.

Leading condemnation of the attacks, the UN Secretary-General said that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure violated international humanitarian law. [They] are “unacceptable and must end immediately”, followed by a ceasefire resulting in a “just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in Ukraine”, he insisted, in a statement issued by his Spokesperson.

Eyewitness testimony

Speaking to UN News after visiting the shattered building and its residents, UNICEF Representative, Munir Mammadzade, insisted that nowhere in Ukraine is safe today. The air-raid alert in Kyiv lasted almost 12 hours, he noted.

The senior UN official also condemned the “continuous attacks” reportedly involving ballistic missiles and drones by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“I’m just back from one of the sites that were impacted, severely…and still, the search and rescue operation is continuing,” he said, adding that clothes, toys and shoes lay strewn across the pavement of the impacted residential area in the capital’s Darnytskyi suburb. “Across the city, there were four kids confirmed killed and more than 10 injured; most likely these numbers will go up,” he added.

Media reports indicated further damage to civilian infrastructure including Ukraine’s railways. Russian attacks have also continued closer to the front line, targeting key energy infrastructure ahead of winter, Mammadzade warned.