Russia bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles in an hours-long nighttime barrage, while the Russian military said Thursday that its air defenses intercepted more than 800 drones fired by Ukraine toward Moscow and other cities. 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.
At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens were wounded, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian aerial attacks hit 12 regions overnight and wounded scores of people, including five children. In Lozova, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, two women aged 50 and 60 were killed and dozens were wounded in a strike on a market, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. The State Emergency Service said another person was killed in other strikes on Kharkiv. One person was killed in Kyiv.
Zelensky said the capital faced 21 ballistic missiles in three waves. The strikes damaged 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 — bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — targeted downtown Kyiv. Ukrainians are preparing for bitterly cold months as the recent escalation targets the power grid and, Ukraine says, is meant to deny civilians heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign that Ukrainians describe as weaponizing winter. Zelensky said the bombardment showed there had been no real change in Moscow's attitude.
Putin's consent came in talks in St. Petersburg with US President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff. Witkoff had spoken of new momentum toward peace after meeting Zelensky in Norway on Tuesday. No date was set for the tripartite talks. Representatives of the three countries held rounds of technical talks in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland in January and February, seeking groundwork for detailed negotiations, but reported little progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on terms for stopping the fighting. 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 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 negotiate Ukraine's future directly with Washington and to leave Europe and Kyiv out. The Trump administration has also disparaged Europe.
Kremlin spokesperson 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: "The American administration is doing a lot to help a peaceful settlement." He said European capitals were doing nothing to promote a peaceful resolution and were doing a great deal to provoke further escalation of the fighting.
Witkoff was sharply criticized in Ukraine and in the United States for praising Putin as a "humanitarian" after the Russian leader ordered the release of a retired American teacher imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest attacks, which he called brutal, showed what Russian humanism truly sounds like. He said: "Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will." 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.
Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 808 Ukrainian drones overnight and that two people were 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, as well as transport infrastructure in Kyiv, and that infrastructure in the southern port of Odesa and vessels used by the Ukrainian armed forces were also hit.
Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said the bodies of 252 people, described by Russia as Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine on Thursday. Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev told RBC that Russia received the bodies of 25 Russian soldiers.