Putin-Trump Call Still Unconfirmed as Russia and Ukraine Exchange Strikes

The Kremlin says no date has been agreed for the leaders’ next conversation, despite Trump’s announcement. Drone strikes hit a Yandex data center and a Russian petrochemical plant as Ukraine reports at least 32 dead in Russian attacks

A phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to be arranged, the Kremlin said, casting doubt on Trump’s announcement that the conversation had been scheduled on Putin’s birthday.

“We haven’t yet. We’ll let you know,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency Tass when asked whether Moscow had coordinated the call with Washington and agreed on a time.

The Kremlin had previously said a conversation could be arranged quickly if an initiative were put forward. Trump and Putin have spoken by phone five times since the beginning of the year. Their most recent conversation took place on September 8.

While the diplomatic contact remains uncertain, drone attacks on targets inside Russia continued overnight from October 7 to October 8. One of the most significant incidents involved a Yandex data center in Sasovo, in the Ryazan region, where a fire disrupted some of the company’s services.

Yandex confirmed the incident, saying power was interrupted in one section of the data center. The company operates Russia’s most popular mapping service.

Another target was the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat petrochemical complex in Bashkortostan, where a fire broke out. The facility processes up to 10 million metric tons of hydrocarbon feedstocks a year and produces more than 150 products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, bitumen, polyethylene, styrene and ammonia. The plant has previously been targeted by Ukrainian drones.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine on October 7 has risen to at least 32, with more than 100 people injured, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The deadliest strike hit a residential building in Pryluky, in the Chernihiv region, killing 22 people, including five children, and injuring dozens more. Other casualties were reported in Kyiv and elsewhere.

The attack affected 12 Ukrainian regions and involved about 70 missiles and a large number of drones, according to Ukrainian officials. Energy infrastructure was among the targets.

Separately, Russian security agencies told Tass that a temporary deployment site for Colombian fighters serving with Ukraine’s 23rd Separate Assault Regiment of the National Guard had been destroyed near Kharkiv.

“In Derhachi, in the Kharkiv region, a large airborne assault force of Colombian mercenaries from Ukraine’s 23rd Separate Assault Regiment of the National Guard, previously deployed by Kyiv, was eliminated,” a source told the Russian news agency.

Russian authorities claim that about 16,500 foreign fighters are serving in Ukraine’s armed forces, including 7,000 Colombians.

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