Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 19 people and wounding nearly 300 in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the sidelines of the NATO defence alliance summit. He is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.

Trump has struggled to deliver on his vow to quickly end the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year.

He clashed bitterly with Zelensky at the White House in February, which stunned Ukraine’s Western allies.

Since then, Zelensky has been at pains to try to mend the relationship. The pair had a brief sit-down at the Vatican in April.

In the aftermath of Moscow’s latest attack, emergency services in the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood. “Putin destroys lives, that’s how he defines control. If he can kill people, destroy homes, blackmail others, he believes he has power,” Zelensky said on X.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said the strikes amounted to a “rejection of peace” from Russia, which has rebuffed US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.