Russian drone strikes kill 7 in Kharkiv during Zelenskyy's White House meeting with Trump

"That's why Putin doesn't want to cease fire," Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, wrote on Telegram. "He enjoys shelling peaceful cities while talking about his desire to end the war."

A partially blurred photo released by Ukraine's emergency services appeared to show a firefighter holding the limp body of a child. 

Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, wrote on Telegraph that he believed the attack on the residential building was "deliberate."

"Five enemy 'Shaheds' approached it from different directions and targeted people who were peacefully sleeping at five in the morning," he said, referring to armed drones.  

Zelenskyy addressed the Monday bombings at the start of his meeting with Trump, noting a one-and-a-half-year-old had been killed. 

"We need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need support, American and European partners. We will do our best for this," Zelenskyy said.

But since at least the start of this month, Russia has seemingly reduced the number of drones and missiles it fires toward Ukrainian cities each night. 

Trump, ahead of his meeting with Putin, had said he would be "unhappy" if the Russian leader did not agree to a ceasefire. 

And while Putin did not appear to agree to a ceasefire at that meeting, Trump touted the meeting as a win and said the pair had reached agreement on a number of issues. 

A United Nations report found that between December 2024 and May 2025, 1,000 civilians in Ukraine, including Russian-occupied areas, had been killed.