KYIV, UKRAINE — Russian strikes killed at least seven people across Ukraine overnight, authorities said on Thursday, shortly after US President Donald Trump’s envoy met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg.
The attacks came despite renewed diplomatic efforts. Trump said negotiators were “maybe now the closest we’ve been” to ending the war. The Kremlin indicated it was “in principle” open to resuming trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States .
The Overnight Attacks
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said two people were wounded in huge barrages of 630 drones fired towards the region. Of those, 163 were approaching the Russian capital. The governor of the nearby Tula region said Russian air defences destroyed 70 drones .
In Ukraine, the attacks killed one man in Sumy and a woman in Kharkiv, both in the northeast. Three people died in southeastern Zaporizhzhia, and two were killed in the eastern region of Donetsk, according to local authorities .
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on social media that strikes had wounded 15 people in the capital. He said the strikes had damaged metro infrastructure at the Pivdenny Bridge, which restricted traffic between parts of the city .
Ukraine’s air force posted a warning in the early hours of “more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv” and instructed residents to stay in shelters .
Witkoff’s Meeting with Putin
US envoy Steve Witkoff had flown to Russia from a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday. The meeting aimed to smooth over a bitter rift between Trump and the Ukrainian leader. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also took part in the talks with Putin remotely .
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was “in principle, ready to resume” trilateral talks in mid-November, after the US midterm elections. He said the Kremlin wanted them to focus on post-war security .
Ushakov said Witkoff briefed Putin on “some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv” from the Oslo meeting. However, he added that “there wasn’t really much substance in them” .
During their three-hour meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for granting Trump’s request to free US citizen Stephen Hubbard. Hubbard is a retired English teacher in his 70s who had been detained for fighting for Ukraine, charges he denied .
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian — you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” Witkoff said .
Witkoff said on social media that the talks with Putin were “constructive” but that “there is still important work left to do.” Discussions would continue between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia at the technical level, he added .
Zelensky Backs Talks
Zelensky said Ukraine also backed resuming trilateral talks. “The American side is proposing to organize this meeting as soon as possible. We are in favour of it,” he told journalists .
The war, Europe’s worst since World War II, has killed tens of thousands of people since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine .
What Happens Next
The attacks underscore the fragility of diplomatic efforts. Despite talk of negotiations, the fighting on the ground continues.
For now, the focus is on whether the trilateral talks will materialise and whether they can produce a breakthrough. The coming weeks will reveal whether diplomacy can prevail over the battlefield.
