Russian Strikes Kill at Least One and Injure More Than 20 in Kyiv Hours After Kremlin Signals Openness to Renewed Peace Talks

Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv overnight into Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20, Ukrainian authorities said, hours after the Kremlin signaled it was prepared in principle to resume U.S.-mediated peace talks with Ukraine.

The attacks damaged residential buildings, energy infrastructure, a railway station, metro facilities and shopping centers across several districts of the capital, according to Ukrainian officials. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at the city in three waves and launched 210 drones; Ukraine’s air force said it shot down or suppressed 181 of the drones but did not intercept any of the ballistic missiles.

The bombardment came the day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said afterward that Moscow had agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, a week after the U.S. midterm elections, according to wire reports carried by TBS News. Zelenskyy said he welcomed the prospect of renewed negotiations, adding: “We’ll see what happens this time.”

Fighting continues on both sides

Ukraine struck back overnight. Russian officials said roughly 630 Ukrainian drones were sent toward the Moscow region, most of them intercepted, with two people wounded there. A separate Russian strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed a woman and injured four others, local officials said.

President Donald Trump has said the diplomatic effort may be closer than ever to ending the war, according to wire reports. But Thursday’s barrage showed the gap between the talk of negotiations and the reality on the ground.

Reporting based on coverage by TBS News, Harava News and Pollar.