President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Moscow’s firing of ballistic missiles at Ukraine shortly after talks between United States envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia’s Vladimir Putin showed the Kremlin’s position on the war had not changed.
The Kremlin had said it was willing to restart trilateral talks with Kyiv and Washington next month, but dismissed new ideas brought by Witkoff — developed with European countries and Ukraine — as lacking substance. Zelenskyy has backed resuming those talks. Several rounds over the last 18 months have failed to move the sides closer to a deal.
Russia hit a dozen Ukrainian regions overnight, including the capital Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding 34 others, Zelenskyy said, adding that children were among those hurt. Houses, energy sites, a shopping mall and a monastery were damaged in Kyiv, where Russia has significantly intensified its strikes ahead of winter. He said the latest strikes began almost immediately after Witkoff held hourslong talks with Putin in Saint Petersburg, and that three waves of ballistic missiles had been launched at Kyiv since the previous evening. He called on allies to keep up real pressure on Moscow and to send more air defence supplies.
Russia said it had downed 808 Ukrainian drones fired overnight and that two people were wounded in Moscow. Witkoff faced widespread criticism for calling Putin a humanitarian after Moscow released an elderly US citizen who had been jailed on charges of fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary.
President Donald Trump sought an optimistic tone as his envoy returned from Russia, saying on Wednesday that negotiators were maybe now the closest they had been to ending the war. In Kyiv and European capitals, hopes for a breakthrough were slim, with many worried the White House was siding with Moscow.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow hoped would be a swift attack to topple Zelenskyy and seize land. The war has become Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions forced from their homes, and much of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed.
Zelenskyy met Witkoff in Norway a day before the US-Russia talks, after days of spiralling Washington-Kyiv tensions. In recent days, Trump has blocked new sanctions on Russia, struck a deal to buy Russian diesel, and called for his Ukrainian counterpart to be replaced.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out of territory in the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls, and wants sweeping political and military restrictions on the size of its army and Western alliances. Ukraine rejects the demands as tantamount to capitulation that would leave it exposed to a fresh attack. Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy and insisted that Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, either through a deal or on the battlefield.
The Kremlin said Witkoff had briefed Putin on some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv from the meeting in Oslo, but that there was not really much substance in them. Moscow also said a summit between Trump, Putin and China’s Xi Jinping was being prepared in China for next month. Europeans and Ukraine worry a deal could be struck over their heads. Shortly after hosting Witkoff on Wednesday, Putin held talks with Chinese premier Li Qiang, who was visiting Saint Petersburg.
Witkoff said on social media the talks with Putin were constructive but that important work remained. Discussions would continue between the US, Ukraine and Russia at the technical level, he added.