Russia and Ukraine traded overnight missile and drone strikes on each other's capitals, leaving at least seven people dead in Ukraine and wounding dozens more.
Russia launched two ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, while Ukraine fired hundreds of drones at Moscow. Neither side showed any sign of easing its offensive even as US-brokered three-way peace talks appeared on the verge of resuming.
According to Reuters and AFP, Russian forces struck central Kyiv with missiles on Wednesday evening and again in the early hours of Thursday.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two areas east of the Dnipro River were hit Wednesday evening, damaging several homes, a gas station and transport equipment, and injuring six people.
The early-morning attack wounded 15 more, eight of whom were hospitalized. A subway facility on a southern bridge spanning the Dnipro River was also damaged, temporarily restricting traffic in the area.
Ukraine's air force warned of further possible strikes and urged residents to remain in shelters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media Thursday that Russia had struck Kyiv overnight with three ballistic missiles fitted with cluster-bomb warheads. Ukraine said such missiles detonate in the air and scatter damage across an area of up to 400 meters. A building near the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — was among those damaged by the cluster munitions.
Casualties were reported beyond the capital as well. Ukrainian authorities said three people were killed in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, two in the eastern Donetsk region, and one each in the northeastern cities of Sumy and Kharkiv. Four more people were wounded in Kharkiv.
Energy infrastructure in Kremenchuk, a major industrial city in the central Poltava region, was also hit in a drone attack. Kremenchuk is home to Ukraine's largest oil refinery.
Zelensky said 170 attacks on critical energy facilities had been carried out since Oct. 11.
As the missile strikes on Kyiv continued, hundreds of Ukrainian drones were shot down over Moscow.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a social media post that 630 drones flew toward the Moscow area between 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 4 a.m. Thursday, with 163 approaching the city itself. Most were intercepted, but two civilians were wounded near Moscow.
In Tula region, just south of Moscow, 70 drones were shot down. In Lipetsk, about 400 kilometers south of Moscow, some drones broke through air defenses and struck an apartment building and a medical facility, wounding one person, local officials said.
The mutual strikes came immediately after US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff met with the leaders of both countries in quick succession to push for a resumption of peace negotiations. Witkoff met Zelensky in Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday before traveling to St. Petersburg to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Zelensky said Ukraine supported the US push for a swift resumption of talks, and the Kremlin said Putin had agreed in principle to restart three-way negotiations.
President Donald Trump, following Witkoff's meeting with Putin, said an end to the war was "maybe the closest it's ever been."
husn7@heraldcorp.com
