Three civilians were killed in separate attacks by Ukrainian and Russian forces on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, underscoring the continuing civilian cost of a war that Ukraine’s president is trying to place at the center of international diplomacy. The deaths occurred as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to travel to the United States for a meeting with former President Donald Trump, a high-stakes encounter that could reshape Washington’s posture toward Kyiv.

The AP said the fatalities were the result of separate incidents in eastern and southern Ukraine, where fighting and strikes have repeatedly hit towns and villages near the front lines. Local emergency services and regional officials alerted authorities and relatives, while hospitals treated the wounded. The incidents are the latest in a long pattern of attacks that have damaged civilian infrastructure and forced repeated displacements.

For Zelenskyy, the timing adds urgency to a diplomatic push aimed at securing continued military and political backing as Kyiv seeks to blunt Russia’s offensive. His planned meeting with Trump, who remains a polarizing figure in American politics and has in the past signaled a more conciliatory approach toward Moscow, carries heavy symbolic weight. Kyiv is attempting to ensure that support for Ukraine’s defense does not erode amid intense U.S. domestic debate over foreign aid and broader U.S.-Russia relations.

Analysts say the deaths highlight a wider dilemma for Ukraine’s international strategy: translating battlefield suffering into sustained international action. “Every civilian casualty reinforces Kyiv’s argument that the war’s human consequences are immediate and ongoing,” said an international affairs analyst familiar with Eastern Europe. “But turning that moral case into policy is increasingly complicated by partisan politics abroad.”

The attacks also carry implications under international humanitarian law. Deliberate attacks on civilians or indiscriminate strikes are prohibited; the continuation of violence near populated areas invites scrutiny from rights groups and could spur calls for independent investigations. United Nations human rights monitors and humanitarian agencies regularly document civilian harm in the conflict, calling for greater protection of noncombatants and unfettered access to relief.

Moscow and Kyiv trade accusations over responsibility for civilian deaths, and both sides frame such incidents to bolster domestic and international narratives. Russian officials typically blame Ukrainian armed formations and Western weaponry for civilian harm, while Kyiv accuses Russian forces of indiscriminate shelling and strikes targeting energy and transport infrastructure to undermine civilian life.

The meeting with Trump will be watched closely in capitals across Europe and Asia. Western allies have largely maintained support for Ukraine, but future assistance is vulnerable to political shifts in donor countries. For Kyiv, sustaining that coalition means persuading a broad range of audiences — from wavering voters in the United States to skeptical leaders in other democracies — that the conflict remains a pressing international security concern.

As Zelenskyy heads to the United States, the three civilian deaths are a stark reminder that diplomatic engagements are occurring against the backdrop of ongoing violence. For families who lost loved ones in the latest strikes, the meetings and political calculations abroad offer little immediate comfort. For diplomats and analysts, the incidents underscore the narrow window for translating sympathy into concrete, sustained support for Ukraine’s defense and civilian protection.