kyiv, Ukraine — Russia bombarded kyiv with ballistic missiles in an hour-long nighttime barrage, while the Russian military said Thursday its air defenses intercepted more than 800 drones fired by Ukraine at Moscow and other cities.
At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens more were injured, officials said, in attacks that began just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Wednesday “in principle” to the resumption of tripartite talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
“Russia has not changed the way it is waging this war, and it is not taking any steps that would demonstrate a genuine desire to end it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the latest large-scale barrage.
Putin’s agreement came during talks in St. Petersburg with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who spoke of a “new momentum” toward peace after meeting Tuesday with Zelensky in Norway. No date has been set for the tripartite negotiations.
Representatives from the three countries held rounds of “technical” negotiations 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 prisoner-of-war exchanges. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their terms to end the fighting despite American efforts.
Zelensky says only a meeting of leaders can break the deadlock.
Russia launches 170 strikes in just over a week on Ukraine’s power grid
Russian air attacks hit 12 regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and injuring many others, including five children, Zelensky said on social media on Thursday.
Two women aged 50 and 60 were killed and dozens injured 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 in Kharkiv, state emergency services said.
The Ukrainian capital experienced a noisy night as 21 ballistic missiles fell in three waves, Zelenskyy said, destroying apartment buildings, energy facilities, a train station and the kyiv metro, shopping centers and businesses. One person was killed in Kyiv.
The Russian attack on kyiv included three ballistic missiles carrying cluster munitions – bombs that open in the air and release dozens of small bombs, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainians are bracing for the frigid months ahead as a recent escalation of Russian attacks targets the power grid to deprive civilians of heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign that Ukrainians describe as “a weapon against winter.”
Since October 11, Russia has launched 170 strikes against Ukraine’s critical energy facilities, Zelensky said.
Putin plans to attend G20 in Miami, Kremlin says
The Ukrainian leader begged Washington to provide more Patriot air defense munitions to stop ballistic missiles and impose more sanctions on Russia to pressure Moscow to pursue peace.
Instead, Trump agreed with Putin to import diesel from Russia and lifted heavy sanctions on Moscow, while U.S. officials say Patriot munitions are in short supply.
“Russia is clearly benefiting from the slowdown in air defense supplies from our partners,” Zelensky said. “It is also clear that when some partners ease pressure on Russia, it only strengthens Putin’s conviction that his goals are within his reach.”
Western analysts say Putin wants to exclude Europe and kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington. The Trump administration has also denigrated Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had received an invitation to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December but had not yet decided whether he would attend.
“The US administration is doing a lot to contribute to a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters. “European capitals are doing nothing to promote a peaceful resolution, and they are doing much to provoke a further escalation of fighting.”
Ukrainians accuse Trump envoy of flattering Putin
Witkoff, the Trump envoy who met with Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, was harshly criticized in Ukraine and the United States for hailing the Russian leader as a “humanitarian” for ordering the release of a retired American teacher who was imprisoned for fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Assassination attempts against Putin’s enemies – consistently denied by the Kremlin – have been common during his decades in power. And as the fifth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor approaches, airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops.
The latest “brutal” Russian attacks demonstrate “what Russian ‘humanism’ truly looks like,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. “Appeasement, servility and flattery will not stop this war. Only force will.”
Russia says it intercepted more than 800 Ukrainian drones
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 808 Ukrainian drones overnight, injuring two.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones were fired at the Russian capital between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Moscow airports temporarily restricted air traffic overnight.
The Russian military hit facilities involved in the manufacturing and storage of drones and cruise missiles as well as transport infrastructure in kyiv in nighttime strikes, the Defense Ministry said. Infrastructure at the southern port of Odessa and ships used by the Ukrainian armed forces were also affected, the statement said.
Separately, the bodies of 252 people, considered by Russia to be Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine as part of an exchange, Ukraine’s coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war said on Thursday.
Russia received 25 bodies of Russian soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of a parliamentary coordination group overseeing the exchanges, told media outlet RBC.
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