Missiles Hit Kyiv Hours After Russia Agrees to Resume Peace Talks

Updated 06:34 UTC: Second wave hits Kyiv, Ukraine sends 630 drones toward Moscow

A second wave of Russian missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, wounding 15 people and damaging subway infrastructure on the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro River, Kyiv authorities said. Traffic over the bridge was restricted. The strikes followed the Wednesday evening attack on the capital that wounded six people.

A Russian strike also killed a woman and injured four other people in the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. A drone hit energy infrastructure in the Kremenchuk area in the Poltava region, a local official said, without giving details.

Ukraine sent hundreds of drones toward Moscow overnight. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones were sent toward the capital, most were downed at long range, and two people were wounded near Moscow. In Lipetsk, about 400 km (250 miles) south of Moscow, Governor Igor Artamonov said drones hit apartment buildings and a medical facility and a man was injured.

Missiles struck Kyiv through the night into Thursday, wounding six people, hours after Russia said it was ready in principle to resume three-way peace talks with Ukraine and the United States.

Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said several homes were hit in the capital and six people were wounded, four of whom needed hospital treatment. Ukraine's air force warned in the early hours of more ballistic missiles heading toward Kyiv and told residents to stay in shelters.

A day of diplomacy in St. Petersburg

The strikes followed a renewed diplomatic push led by US President Donald Trump's envoys. Special envoy Steve Witkoff held about three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner joining by video link. A day earlier, Witkoff had met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland in Oslo.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was "in principle, ready to resume" trilateral talks in mid-November, after November 10, and said Moscow wanted the talks to focus on security arrangements for both countries once the war ends. The signal came with a warning: Ushakov said the Ukrainian and European proposals Witkoff carried to Moscow held little substance.

Trump, who has pressed Kyiv to reach a deal, said the effort was now "the closest we've been" to ending the war.

A prisoner release, and a cautious Kyiv

Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian" for agreeing to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former American teacher who had been held in Russia since April 2022 on charges he fought for Ukraine, which he denied. Hubbard was reported to be waiting at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport to fly back to the United States with Witkoff.

Zelensky said he supported the push to restart talks and that the agenda was to end the war and prepare a meeting at leaders' level. He has said Ukraine could accept an agreement that freezes positions along the current front line, with firm security guarantees discussed afterwards. He also noted that Russia has promised meetings before and then cancelled them.

Three-way talks have been stalled since February, after rounds in Abu Dhabi and Geneva produced little beyond prisoner exchanges. Abu Dhabi has been floated as a possible venue for the new round. Russia's full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, has left Moscow in control of roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, and Putin has repeatedly rejected a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky.

Russian officials said their air defences intercepted drones overnight, including more than 160 flying toward Moscow. Neither the diplomacy nor the strikes have paused the fighting: while the talks were being arranged, Russia stepped up its attacks as Ukraine's supply of Western-supplied missile interceptors dwindled.