KYIV: Russia bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles in an hourslong nighttime barrage, while the Russian military said Thursday that its air defenses intercepted over 800 drones fired by Ukraine at Moscow and other cities.
At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens of others were wounded, officials said, in the large-scale attacks that began only hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” on Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Putin’s consent came in talks in St. Petersburg with US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had spoken of a “new momentum” toward peace after meeting Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway. No date was set for the tripartite talks.
Representatives of the three countries held rounds of “technical” talks in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland in January and February, seeking to lay the groundwork for detailed negotiations. But they reported little progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their terms for stopping the fighting despite US efforts.
Zelensky says only a meeting of leaders can end the deadlock. As for the prospect of more “technical talks” between delegations: “We’ll see what happens this time.”
Zelensky sees ‘no change’ in Moscow’s attitude
Russia’s aerial attacks hit 12 regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, including five children, Zelensky said on social media Thursday.
Two women aged 50 and 60 were killed and dozens of others wounded in a Russian strike on a market in Lozova, in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. Another person was killed in other strikes on Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service said.
The Ukrainian capital endured a noisy night as 21 ballistic missiles came in three waves, Zelensky said, smashing apartment buildings, energy facilities, a railway station and the Kyiv subway system, shopping malls and businesses. One person was killed in Kyiv.
A Russian ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions — bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — targeted downtown Kyiv, said Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky.
Ukrainians are bracing for the bitterly cold months ahead as the recent escalation in Russian attacks targets the power grid to deny civilians heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign Ukrainians describe as ” weaponizing winter. ”
The Russian bombardment showed “there has been no real change in (Moscow’s) attitude toward everything that is happening,” Zelensky said.
Putin mulls attending G20 in Miami, Kremlin says
The Ukrainian leader has pleaded with Washington to supply more Patriot air defense ammunition to stop the ballistic missiles, and to heap more sanctions on Russia to pressure Moscow to pursue peace.
Instead, Trump has agreed with Putin to import diesel from Russia and waived heavy sanctions on Moscow, while US officials say Patriot ammunition is in short supply.
Western analysts say Putin wants to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington. The Trump administration has also disparaged Europe.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had received an invitation to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December but hasn’t yet decided whether to go.
“The American administration is doing a lot to help a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters. “European capitals are doing nothing to promote a peaceful resolution, and they are doing a great deal to provoke the further escalation of fighting.”
Ukrainians chide Trump envoy for flattering Putin
Witkoff, the Trump envoy who met with Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, was harshly criticized in Ukraine and in the US for praising the Russian leader as a “humanitarian” for ordering the release of a retired American teacher who was imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Assassination attempts against Putin’s foes — routinely denied by the Kremlin — have been common during his decades in power. And as the five-year anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor approaches, aerial strikes have killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
The latest “brutal” Russian attacks demonstrate “what Russian ‘humanism’ truly sounds like,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. “Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will.”
Russia says it intercepted more than 800 Ukrainian drones
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses overnight downed 808 Ukrainian drones, with two people reported wounded.
Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 630 of the drones were fired toward the Russian capital between late Wednesday and early Thursday. Moscow airports temporarily restricted air traffic overnight.
The Russian military hit the facilities involved in making and storing drones and cruise missiles and transport infrastructure in Kyiv in overnight strikes, the Defense Ministry said. Infrastructure in the southern port of Odesa and vessels used for the Ukrainian armed forces were also hit, it said.
In other developments, the bodies of 252 people, said by Russia to be Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine in an exchange, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Thursday.
Russia received 25 bodies of Russian soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of a parliamentary coordination group overseeing the exchanges, told RBC news outlet.