Russia and Ukraine launched fresh attacks on each other’s territory overnight, a day after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. The meeting was aimed at reviving talks to end the war.
Ukraine’s national emergency service said Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least one person and injured 22, including four children.
Strikes on Kyiv and drone raids on Russian regions
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said metro infrastructure was damaged at the Pivdenny Bridge, which spans the Dnipro River. Russian officials described a separate set of events on their side of the border.
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two people were wounded after Ukraine sent 630 drones toward the region, 163 of them aimed at the capital. He said most were intercepted. The governor of the nearby Tula region said Russian air defences destroyed 70 drones, and the governor of Lipetsk said another man was wounded there.
Witkoff’s meeting and the Hubbard release
Witkoff met Putin at Constantine Palace in St Petersburg on Wednesday. During the visit, Russia freed jailed US teacher Stephen Hubbard as a goodwill gesture, and the US envoy praised Putin as a “humanitarian”.
US President Donald Trump later said he believed the war in Ukraine might be closer to ending than it had ever been. Trump also delayed a new round of Russia-related sanctions, a move he defended on Wednesday as necessary to secure Hubbard’s release.
Kremlin caution and anger over the diesel deal
The Kremlin was more cautious. It said Moscow was “in principle” willing to restart US-mediated talks with Ukraine, but argued that Ukrainian and European peace proposals lacked “substance”.
Trump, who has been frustrated, has once again turned his attention back to Putin. He announced what he described as a deal allowing heavily sanctioned Russia to sell diesel, which he said would help lower fuel prices that rose sharply after the US-Israel war on Iran. Witkoff told Putin that Washington was “grateful” for the arrangement, which drew outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.
The war is Europe’s worst since World War II and has killed tens of thousands of people since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022. Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and has insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Thursday that “appeasement” would not halt Russia’s campaign. Writing on X, he said: “Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will.”
