Russia bombards Kyiv with missiles hours after Putin agrees to trilateral talks

Overnight strikes follow diplomatic engagement

Russia launched a heavy missile barrage against Kyiv and 12 other Ukrainian regions overnight, just hours after President Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to resume trilateral peace talks with the United States and Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces fired 21 ballistic missiles at the capital in three separate waves. The strikes killed at least two people across Ukraine and wounded more than 30 others, hitting residential apartment buildings, energy infrastructure, a railway station, and a historic monastery in Kyiv's Pecherskyi district. Ukrainian officials confirmed that three of the missiles were equipped with cluster warheads.

"This is another extraordinarily revealing strike," Zelenskyy said, adding that the deliberate choice of weapons and targets proved Moscow had made no real change in its approach to the conflict.

The bombardment directly followed talks in St Petersburg between Putin and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin had agreed "in principle" to resume three-way negotiations involving Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow after 10 November.

Escalation on air and land fronts

While Ukrainian cities assessed the destruction, Moscow reported one of the largest coordinated drone attacks launched against Russian territory since the conflict began.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defence units intercepted 808 Ukrainian drones overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 of those drones were directed towards the Russian capital, forcing temporary flight groundings across regional airports. Russian defence officials stated that their own overnight strikes successfully targeted Ukrainian facilities involved in making and storing drones and cruise missiles, as well as port facilities in Odesa.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha sharply rejected the praise offered by US envoy Witkoff, who had called Putin a "humanitarian" during their meeting. Sybiha warned that "appeasement, servility and flattery" would not halt aggression, appealing to Western partners for additional Patriot air defence interceptors.

The renewed bombardment comes as Ukraine prepares for winter, with officials in Kyiv warning that Moscow is deliberately targeting power grids to deny civilians heat and light during the coldest months. Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders reported ongoing ground engagements, including an underground counter-strike by the Khartia corps near the eastern city of Kupiansk, where troops advanced 15 kilometres through pipeline tunnels behind Russian lines.