Russian attacks kill 26 civilians in Ukraine as Zelenskyy seeks more Western help

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones, missiles and artillery killed at least 26 civilians and injured more than 200 others in Ukraine, officials said Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought guarantees at a NATO summit of further Western help to repel Moscow’s invasion.

Russian forces have relentlessly struck civilian areas throughout the 3-year-old war. More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations. Ukraine has also launched long-range drones against Russia, hitting residential areas.

Zelenskyy joined Western leaders at a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, and is keen to lock in additional military support for Ukraine, as recent direct peace talks have made no progress on a settlement.

Key U.S. military commitments to Ukraine left over from the Biden administration are expected to run out within months, according to analysts, and there is uncertainty over whether U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to provide more.

A Russian ballistic missile attack on Dnipro hit multiple civilian sites in the central Ukrainian city around midday Tuesday, killing 17 people and injuring more than 200 others, officials said. “The number of casualties is constantly being updated,” Dnipro’s regional administration head Serhii Lysak wrote on Telegram.

In the nearby town of Samar, an attack killed two people and injured 14, he said.

The barrage damaged 19 schools, 10 kindergartens, a vocational school, a music school and a social welfare office, as well as eight medical facilities, according to Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov. Schools are closed for the summer break.

One of the blasts blew out the windows of a passenger train carrying about 500 people. Filatov declared Wednesday to be an official day of mourning.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Russia needs foreign components to build its ballistic missiles and he urged countries to crack down on Moscow's “schemes” to obtain them. “Sanctions against Russia must also be significantly strengthened,” he said.

Russia also shelled residential neighborhoods and critical infrastructure across Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, killing four civilians and wounding at least 11 others, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration.

In the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine, a drone attack late Monday killed three civilians, including a 5-year-old boy, and injured six others, local authorities said. Among the injured were two 17-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy, according to officials.

Russian air defense forces overnight shot down 20 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Tuesday. It said 14 were downed over the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, while two had been flying over the Moscow region.

One drone slammed into a tower block on the outskirts of the Russian capital, sparking a fire on its 17th floor, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. He said a 34-year-old resident suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and leg. Two other drones were shot down while approaching Moscow, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Air traffic was briefly halted as a precaution at two major Moscow airports, Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo, according to a representative of Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsiya.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers carry an injured civilian following Russia's missile attack in Dnipro, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, rescuers carry an injured civilian following Russia's missile attack in Dnipro, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose for photographers prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, arrives at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of a dinner on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Remko de Waal, Pool Photo via AP)

From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A view of the damaged flat of an apartment building where the Ukrainian drone fell in Krasnogorsk, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Moscow News Agency via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, a Russian soldier prepares Giatsint-B 152 mm field gun to fire towards Ukrainian position on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)