Missiles struck Kyiv throughout the night, authorities said early on Thursday, sending residents into shelters and wounding six shortly after Russia signaled it was ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States. US President Donald Trump said after his envoy Steve Witkoff's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that it was "the closest we've been" to ending the war. Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian" for freeing US citizen Stephen Hubbard, but the Kremlin warned after the meeting in Saint Petersburg that while Moscow was "in principle" willing to restart talks there was little "substance" in Ukrainian and European peace proposals the US diplomat had delivered.
Attacks did not let up overnight, with Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko posting on social media that missile strikes had wounded six people in the capital, four of whom needed hospitalisation. Ukraine's Airforce posted a warning in the early hours of "more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv" and instructed residents to stay in shelters. Russian authorities also said they had intercepted drones during the night, including more than 160 flying towards Moscow.
Witkoff had flown to Russia from a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, which was aimed at smoothing over a bitter rift between Trump and the Ukrainian leader. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also took part in the talks with Putin remotely. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was "in principle, ready to resume" trilateral talks in mid-November -- after crucial US midterm elections -- and that the Kremlin wanted them to focus on post-war security.
Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading.
To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Ushakov said Witkoff briefed Putin on "some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv" from the Oslo meeting, adding though that "there wasn't really much substance in them". A summit between Putin, Trump and China's Xi Jinping was also being prepared in China's Shenzhen for next month, Ushakov said, calling it "the first such meeting in history." During their three-hour meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for granting Trump's request to free Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had always denied the charges he was a "mercenary" fighting for Ukraine.
"You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian -- you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that," Witkoff said. Witkoff said on social media that the talks with Putin were "constructive" but that "there is still important work left to do". Discussions would continue between the US, Ukraine and Russia at the technical level, he added.
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