Russia and Ukraine trade blame for attack on Kursk school

Kyiv and Moscow traded blame Sunday for a strike on a school in a Ukrainian-occupied town in Russia's Kursk region, as Washington urged both sides to make compromises to end the conflict.

Fighting in the nearly three-year war has shown no signs of easing despite US President Donald Trump's promise to quickly reach a ceasefire after he took office on January 20.

On Sunday Trump's Ukraine envoy hinted that both sides would have to make concessions to end the war -- which could include Kyiv giving up land occupied by Russia.

The Ukrainian Air Force said four people were killed Saturday in a Russian guided aerial bomb attack on a former school building sheltering civilians in the town of Sudzha. Four others were seriously wounded and 80 people rescued from the rubble, it added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia "devoid of civility", sharing a video on social media showing a heavily damaged building, as well as a wounded man lying on the ground.

But Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying they had opened a criminal case against a Ukrainian commander who they said was behind the attack.

A defence ministry statement accused Kyiv of a "war crime" with "no statute of limitations" by targeting the school.

Ukraine has occupied parts of the Russian border region of Kursk since launching a surprise operation last August, seizing dozens of villages and small towns including Sudzha -- home to about 6,000 people before the fighting.

 'Give a little'  

Both Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have said they are ready for talks on ending the war, but neither has said when or how.

After recently returning from a visit to Ukraine, Trump's Kyiv envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News that "both sides will give a little bit".

Zelensky "has already indicated he will soften his position on land," the retired lieutenant general said, adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "is going to have to soften his positions as well".

But the Ukrainian president's communications adviser dismissed Kellogg's intervention.

"We haven't seen Mr. Kellogg's full interview... But if his plan is just a ceasefire and elections, it is a failed plan -- Putin won't be intimidated by just those two things," Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.

Zelensky has long rejected any territorial concessions to Russia, whose troops control a large swathe of southeastern Ukraine. But mounting battlefield losses and uncertainty about continued US support has heaped pressure on him.

Trump has been critical of the billions Washington has spent arming Ukraine, while threatening to impose additional sanctions on Russia if Putin does not reach a "deal" to end the war.

Russia, for its part, has sought assurances that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Putin said last month he was willing to hold talks with Ukraine, but not with Zelensky, whom he called "illegitimate".

 'Crushed by the wall'  

Russia's invasion of Ukraine will this month hit the three-year mark.

Across the country, at least 23 people were killed as Russian strikes pummelled the centre, east and south of the country over the weekend, according to regional authorities and police.

A Russian drone attack Sunday morning on a minibus in Kherson killed five, including two children, the southern city's administration head Roman Mrochko said, adding that shelling had killed a woman elsewhere in the city.

Fourteen people, including three children, were killed in the city of Poltava after a missile hit a residential building early Saturday, the local administration said.

Officials said at least 20 people were wounded as rescuers used cranes to comb the ruins of the smouldering building for survivors.

"This is just one Russian missile that caused so much pain, suffering and loss," said Zelensky in his evening address Sunday.

"That is why Ukraine and real peace need guarantees -- guarantees that such evil will be stopped. Reliable guarantees. Not just some words or a few papers, but something that can guarantee the absence of Russian terror."

Another three people were killed at the weekend in Sumy region, and one in Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Russia said two people died in Ukrainian drone attacks on the Belgorod region.