Russian missiles pound Kyiv as Moscow says over 800 Ukrainian drones downed

Russian missiles pound Kyiv as Moscow says over 800 Ukrainian drones downed

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missiles in an hourslong nighttime barrage, while the Russian military said Thursday that its air defenses intercepted over 800 drones fired by Ukraine at Moscow and other cities.

Russian missiles pound Kyiv as Moscow says over 800 Ukrainian drones downed

At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens of others were wounded, officials said, in the attacks that began only hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

“Russia has not changed the way it wages this war, and it is taking no steps that would signal a genuine desire to end it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the barrage.

Putin's consent came in talks in St. Petersburg with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who spoke of a “new momentum” toward peace after meeting Tuesday with Zelenskyy in Norway. The talks are supposed to start sometime after Nov. 10. No date was set.

Representatives of the three countries held rounds of “technical” talks 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 exchanges of prisoners of war. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart in their terms for stopping the fighting despite U.S. efforts.

The U.S. has proposed the United Arab Emirates as a possible location for the new talks, said Zelenskyy, who has said only a meeting of leaders can end the deadlock.

Russia’s aerial attacks hit 12 regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, including five children, Zelenskyy said on social media Thursday.

Two women, ages 50 and 60, were killed and dozens of other people were wounded 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 on Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service said.

The Ukrainian capital endured a noisy night as 21 ballistic missiles came in three waves, Zelenskyy said, smashing apartment buildings, energy facilities, a railway station and the Kyiv subway system, shopping malls 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 scores of smaller bomblets, Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainians are bracing for the bitterly cold months ahead as the recent escalation in Russian attacks targets the power grid to deny civilians heat, light and running water. Ukraine says Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for an annual campaign Ukrainians describe as “ weaponizing winter.”

Since Oct. 11, Russia has launched 170 strikes on Ukraine's critical energy facilities, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader has pleaded with Washington to supply more Patriot air-defense ammunition to stop the missiles, and to heap more sanctions on Russia to pressure Moscow to pursue peace.

Instead, Trump has agreed with Putin to import diesel from Russia and waived heavy sanctions on Moscow, while U.S. officials say Patriot ammunition is in short supply.

“Russia is clearly taking advantage of the slowdown in air defense supplies from our partners,” Zelenskyy said. “It is equally clear that when some partners ease the pressure on Russia, it only reinforces Putin’s belief that his goals are within reach.”

Western analysts say Putin wants to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Washington. The Trump administration has also disparaged Europe.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had received an invitation to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December but hasn’t yet decided whether to go.

“The American administration is doing a lot to help a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters. “European capitals are doing nothing to promote a peaceful resolution, and they are doing a great deal to provoke the further escalation of fighting."

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would “be represented at the highest level” at the summit if Trump invites the country.

"Let’s hope that this is possible. So far we have not received such a signal. We are counting on it,” he said at a news conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Kyiv.

Witkoff, the Trump envoy who met Wednesday with Putin in St. Petersburg, was harshly criticized in Ukraine and the U.S. for praising the Russian leader as a “humanitarian” after he released a retired American teacher who was imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

Assassination attempts against Putin's foes — routinely denied by the Kremlin — have been common during his decades in power. And as the five-year anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor approaches, aerial strikes have killed thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

The latest “brutal” Russian attacks demonstrate “what Russian ‘humanism’ truly sounds like,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. “Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses overnight downed 808 Ukrainian drones, with two people reported wounded.

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 630 of the drones were fired toward the Russian capital between late Wednesday and early Thursday. Moscow airports temporarily restricted air traffic overnight.

The Russian military hit facilities involved in making and storing drones and cruise missiles, as well as striking transport infrastructure in Kyiv, the Defense Ministry said. Infrastructure in the southern port of Odesa and vessels used for the Ukrainian armed forces were also hit, it said.

In other developments, the bodies of 252 people, said by Russia to be Ukrainian soldiers, were returned to Ukraine in an exchange, Ukraine’s agency for prisoners of war said Thursday.

Russia received 25 bodies of Russian soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev, a member of a parliamentary group overseeing the exchanges, told the RBC news outlet.

Associated Press Writer Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report.

Follow the ’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at /hub/russia-ukraine

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.