Kyiv Missile Strikes Follow Witkoff-Putin Talks, Killing Two

Russia bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, just hours after President Vladimir Putin met US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg to discuss restarting peace talks. The Kyiv missile strikes came in three successive waves, with Ukrainian officials reporting 21 ballistic missiles aimed at the capital alongside 210 attack drones launched across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Thursday morning that at least two people had been killed and 34 injured, including five children, in attacks affecting 12 Ukrainian regions. In a statement published on Telegram, he referred sarcastically to Russia's supposed humanitarian intentions, an apparent reference to Witkoff's description of Putin as a humanitarian the day before.

According to Ukrainian military and emergency service reports, Russian weapons struck 32 locations, while debris from intercepted drones fell at eight others. Air defences intercepted 181 of the attack drones, though none of the ballistic missiles. The weapons used included Iskander-M, S-400, Zircon and Oniks missiles.

The capital sustained extensive damage. Strikes hit residential buildings, energy facilities, a railway station, shopping centres, industrial premises and a monastery. Part of the metro infrastructure on the Pivdenny Bridge, which spans the Dnipro River, was damaged. In the Pecherskyi district, a strike on an ambulance station damaged six emergency vehicles, though no medical staff were hurt. In the Dniprovskyi district, one person was killed and a child was hospitalized.

Zelenskyy says Moscow's position has not changed

Zelenskyy said the overnight attack showed there has been no real change in Russia's attitude toward the war, and accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians. He said diplomatic efforts to end the war should continue but must be accompanied by measures capable of altering Moscow's calculations.

Those measures, he said, include stronger air defence, faster deliveries of interceptor missiles, the ability to destroy Russian ballistic missile launchers and continued economic sanctions. Kyiv has repeatedly sought additional Patriot missiles and more reliable advance warning of Russian ballistic launches, and the latest attacks have put those requests back at the centre of its negotiations with Washington.

The St Petersburg meeting and its fallout

The bombardment began almost immediately after Witkoff and Putin concluded their talks at the Konstantin Palace on Wednesday. The discussions included Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin's representative for international economic cooperation. Afterwards, Witkoff described the talks as constructive and said technical-level discussions between the United States, Russia and Ukraine would continue.

According to the Kremlin, Putin agreed in principle to restart trilateral negotiations after November 10, with the United Arab Emirates floated as a possible venue. Moscow also cautioned that Ukrainian and European peace proposals lacked sufficient substance, and no agreement on a ceasefire was announced.

The meeting also produced the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had been detained in Russia for more than four years. Russian prosecutors had accused Hubbard of fighting alongside Ukraine as a mercenary, an allegation he denied, and he was sentenced to prison in 2024. Russia described the release as a goodwill gesture.

Witkoff's description of Putin as a humanitarian, made after Hubbard's release, drew criticism from Republican lawmakers in Washington. President Donald Trump defended delaying a new round of Russia-related sanctions as necessary to secure Hubbard's release, and said the war may be closer to ending than at any previous point.

Ukraine fires hundreds of drones at Moscow

Ukraine responded overnight with its own large-scale drone barrage. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukraine launched 630 drones toward the Moscow region, with 163 directed at the capital. Most were intercepted, he said, and civilians were wounded. The governor of the neighbouring Tula region said air defences had destroyed 70 drones, while the Lipetsk region reported another injury.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had intercepted 808 Ukrainian drones across 17 regions, including occupied Ukrainian territory. The ministry said it had targeted Ukrainian military-industrial facilities that produce and store cruise missiles and drones, along with transport sites. Ukrainian officials reported damage to residential buildings and, in the Odesa region, a food production facility whose administrative building was destroyed by fire, with no injuries reported. These accounts could not be independently confirmed.

A frozen front line stays on the table

The strikes came a day after a flurry of diplomacy. On Tuesday, Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Zelenskyy in Oslo alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. On Wednesday, Zelenskyy told Fox News he could accept freezing the fighting along the current front lines, even with Ukraine holding 75 percent or more of its territory, a figure that came from host Brian Kilmeade's question.

Zelenskyy answered yes, saying a freeze was needed and describing it as a "real way to end this war." He rejected Russian pressure to abandon the rest of Donbas and said Russia was not winning on the battlefield. He presented the freeze as a first step, not a final settlement, to be followed by security guarantees from the United States and European countries.

Zelenskyy also recently resumed strikes against Russian oil refineries after Trump announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, describing the attacks as retaliation for Russian strikes that followed the announcement.

For the Trump administration, the immediate question is whether Russia's stated willingness to negotiate can produce verifiable commitments to reduce hostilities. The Kremlin has offered the prospect of further talks without announcing a halt to its offensive operations, while Kyiv continues to face missile and drone attacks against civilian infrastructure. With the war now in its fifth year, the events of October 21-22 leave Washington's diplomatic initiative moving forward against the background of an expanding Russian aerial campaign, according to EUToday. The Media Line reported that Zelenskyy backs freezing the front lines while Russia agrees to resume talks.