Russian missiles and drones slammed into Kyiv overnight into Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 22, including four children, just hours after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg in the latest attempt to restart talks on ending the nearly five-year war. President Donald Trump said afterward that he believed the conflict may be as close to a resolution as it has ever been, even as the strikes drew fresh accusations from Kyiv that Washington was tilting toward Moscow.
Ukraine's state emergency service said the overnight barrage damaged homes and metro infrastructure near the Pivdenny Bridge, which spans the Dnipro River, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Ukraine, for its part, launched a reported 630 drones at Russian territory, 163 of them aimed at Moscow, according to that city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, who said most were intercepted and that two people were wounded. Officials in Russia's Tula and Lipetsk regions also reported drone damage and a further injury.
A Meeting at Constantine Palace
The exchange of fire came directly on the heels of Witkoff's meeting with Putin at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, a sit-down Moscow used to showcase a gesture of goodwill: the release of Stephen Hubbard, an American teacher who had been jailed in Russia for roughly four years. Witkoff, according to a detailed account of the meeting, praised Putin as "humanitarian" and thanked him for a diesel deal that lets heavily sanctioned Russia sell the fuel into the U.S. market, an arrangement intended to ease prices that spiked after the recent U.S.-Israel war against Iran but which drew outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.
Trump, who delayed a fresh wave of Russia sanctions that he said were needed as leverage to secure Hubbard's release, has increasingly pivoted back toward engaging Putin directly after weeks spent publicly frustrated with the Russian leader's refusal to agree to a ceasefire. The Kremlin, for its part, said Wednesday it was willing "in principle" to restart U.S.-mediated talks with Ukraine, though officials dismissed Ukrainian and European peace proposals as lacking "substance." Putin has consistently refused face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and has signaled Moscow still intends to seize the remainder of eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv Rejects 'Appeasement'
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pushed back sharply on the overtures to Moscow, writing on X that "appeasement" would not end the war and that only strength would bring Russia to a genuine settlement. The episode is the latest flashpoint in a running dispute between Kyiv and the Trump administration over how much leverage the U.S. is willing to apply to Moscow — a dispute that has also touched Ukraine's access to Starlink, the satellite internet service that has become a lifeline for its military communications. A recent report found that Elon Musk, not the White House, ordered a slowdown of Starlink service to Ukraine earlier this year before the decision was publicly blamed on Trump, underscoring how much of Kyiv's wartime infrastructure now rests on a single billionaire's decisions.
The war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands of people and is now regarded as Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. Wednesday's strikes were a reminder that even as diplomats shuttle between capitals, the fighting on the ground has not slowed. Kyiv residents interviewed by local broadcasters described sheltering in metro stations as explosions rattled windows across the city center, a now-familiar routine for a population that has endured more than four and a half years of war.
What Happens Next
Neither Washington nor Moscow has set a date or format for resumed negotiations. The Kremlin's stated willingness to restart talks "in principle" leaves wide room for delay, and Putin's continued rejection of direct talks with Zelensky suggests any near-term format would again run through U.S. intermediaries rather than the two warring parties themselves. For now, Trump's optimism that the war may be nearing its end rests on a single phone call and a prisoner release — not yet on any concrete movement toward a ceasefire line, a peacekeeping force, or a resolution of the territorial disputes that have anchored the conflict since 2022.
European officials, who were not party to the Witkoff-Putin meeting, are expected to press Washington in the coming days for details on what concessions, if any, were discussed regarding sanctions relief or territorial recognition. Ukrainian officials have signaled they will not accept any settlement negotiated without their direct participation, setting up a potential standoff over the shape of talks even if both Moscow and Washington remain publicly committed to restarting them.
