Russia bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles in an hours-long nighttime attack, and the Russian military said Thursday that its air defenses intercepted more than 800 drones fired by Ukraine toward Moscow and other cities. Officials said at least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens wounded. The strikes began only hours after President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle on Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations among Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Putin gave that consent in St. Petersburg in talks with Steve Witkoff, an envoy of US President Donald Trump. Witkoff had spoken of new momentum toward peace after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway on Tuesday. No date was set for the tripartite talks.
Representatives of the three countries held technical talks in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland in January and February, seeking groundwork for detailed negotiations. They reported little progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war, and Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on terms for stopping the fighting despite US efforts. Zelensky says only a meeting of leaders can end the deadlock. On the prospect of more technical talks between delegations, he said, "We'll see what happens this time."
Zelensky said on social media Thursday that Russia’s aerial attacks hit 12 regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, including five children. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said two women aged 50 and 60 were killed and dozens wounded in a Russian strike on a market in Lozova, in northeastern Kharkiv region. The State Emergency Service said another person was killed in other strikes on Kharkiv. One person was killed in Kyiv.
Zelensky said the capital endured 21 ballistic missiles in three waves, hitting apartment buildings, energy facilities, a railway station, the Kyiv subway, shopping malls and businesses. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky, said a Russian ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions targeted downtown Kyiv. Ukrainians are bracing for bitterly cold months as recent attacks target the power grid and threaten heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign Ukrainians describe as weaponizing winter. Zelensky said the bombardment showed there had been no real change in Moscow’s attitude toward the war.
Zelensky has asked Washington for more Patriot air-defense ammunition against ballistic missiles and for further sanctions to pressure Moscow toward peace. 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 leave out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington. The Trump administration has also disparaged Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had received an invitation to the G20 summit in Miami in December and had not decided whether to attend. Peskov told reporters that the American administration was doing a great deal to help a peaceful settlement, while European capitals were doing nothing to promote one and much to provoke further escalation.
Witkoff, who met Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, was harshly criticized in Ukraine and the United States for praising the Russian leader as a humanitarian after ordering the release of a retired American teacher imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Assassination attempts against Putin’s foes, which the Kremlin routinely denies, have been common during his decades in power. As the five-year anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion approaches, aerial strikes have killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest attacks showed what Russian humanism truly sounds like, and that appeasement, servility and flattery would not stop the war and that only strength would.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 808 Ukrainian drones overnight, with two people reported wounded. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 of the drones were fired toward the Russian capital between late Wednesday and early Thursday, and Moscow airports temporarily restricted air traffic. The ministry said Russian strikes hit facilities involved in making and storing drones and cruise missiles, and transport infrastructure in Kyiv, as well as infrastructure in the southern port of Odesa and vessels used by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said Thursday that the bodies of 252 people, described by Russia as Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine. Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of a parliamentary group overseeing the exchanges, told RBC that Russia received the bodies of 25 Russian soldiers.