The Japan Times - Zelensky slams Putin after Russian strikes kill 12

Moscow has ramped up its strikes on Ukraine as winter sets in, and Zelensky said the attacks showed Russia has no interest in a deal to end its nearly three-year invasion.

At least 10 people were killed in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, while two were killed in Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rig, officials said.

"Thousands of such strikes carried out by Russia during this war make it absolutely clear that Putin does not need real peace," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.

"Only by force can we resist this. And only through force can real peace be established," he added.

Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian attack had set a car garage and service station on fire in the blast, posting images of a fire blazing with debris strewn across the street.

A total of 24 people were wounded there, including a four-month-old girl and at least two other children aged four and eleven, he said.

- Russian gains in east -

In an update increasing the toll from the strike to 10, Ukraine's national emergency services said on Telegram that the petrol station blaze was extinguished along with six cars on fire.

Another 17 were wounded in the strike on Kryvyi Rig in the centre of Ukraine, Zelensky said.

A six-year-old-boy was among the injured, Kryvyi Rig military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram.

"A three-storey building was destroyed, residential buildings and cars were damaged" in that attack, the agency said on Telegram.

The latest strikes come after weeks of sharp escalation in the conflict, with Moscow stepping up its attacks on Kyiv's energy infrastructure at the start of the harsh Ukrainian winter.

And with Donald Trump's return to the White House looming, the support of Kyiv's key ally the United States has been thrown into question.

Meanwhile Ukraine's outgunned and outmanned forces have buckled across the eastern front in the face of a grinding pre-winter offensive from Russia.

Moscow said Friday its forces had captured a village near the embattled supply hub of Pokrovsk and another near the industrial town of Kurakhove, gaining further ground in two key areas of the east Ukraine frontline.

- Trump meeting? -

Analysts expect the next few months to be crucial as both sides jostle for battlefield momentum ahead of what are expected to be peace negotiations imposed by Trump.

Zelensky is set to travel to Paris this weekend for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral, where he hopes to meet with the US president-elect, a senior Ukraine official told AFP.

Trump, a sceptic of US aid to Kyiv, has said he could end the war within 24 hours of coming to office, but has yet to say how he intends to do so.

Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine would not be able to hold off Russia's advancing troops without US support, and there are fears in Kyiv that Trump could try to force them to accept peace terms favourable to Russia.

Fears in Ukraine that the Republican would press Kyiv to accept major territorial concessions increased after Trump named Keith Kellogg, a retired general and critic of US military aid, as his Ukraine envoy last month.

President Joe Biden's outgoing administration announced an additional $725-million military package for the country on Monday.

H.Hayashi--JT