Russian missiles hit Kyiv as Kremlin agrees in principle to new talks

Overnight strikes on Kyiv

Russia fired ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves starting on Wednesday evening, 21 October, Zelensky said in a post on X. He put the number of missiles at 21, saying they hit several points in the capital, including residential buildings, energy facilities, rail infrastructure, the metro, shopping centres, businesses and a monastery. According to Zelensky, the attacks reached 12 Ukrainian regions, and the provisional toll stood at two dead and 34 injured, among them five children. An earlier count from Ukrainian authorities, reported by AP before Zelensky's post, had one person killed and 22 wounded, and the State Emergency Service said a strike in the Dniprovskyi district killed one person and wounded six, including a child.

Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Telegram that at least 15 people were hurt in overnight bombardment attributed to Russian forces, including two 15-year-old minors, and that eight of the injured were taken to hospital. He said the raids damaged part of the metro infrastructure on the south bridge and an ambulance station in Pechersk district. Zelensky said one missile hit Pechersk, damaging buildings of the Sviato-Vvedensky monastery as well as residential buildings, shops and cafes, and that no military facility stood nearby. He described the missiles as carrying fragmentation warheads that burst in the air and scatter destruction across a 400-metre radius.

Drone attacks on Moscow and Ukraine

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones were headed toward the Moscow region between 20:30 on 21 October and 04:00 on 22 October, most of them downed by air defences on the outskirts, and that the attack injured two people. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched a combined large-scale attack in the early hours of Thursday using Iskander-M, S-400, Zircon and Onyx missiles along with 210 drones, 110 of them jet-powered, with strikes recorded at 32 locations. It said Ukrainian air defences shot down 181 drones, 87 of them jet-powered. Russia's defence ministry, cited by Diario de Noticias, said its systems destroyed 808 Ukrainian drones over 20 regions and Crimea overnight.

Talks after the St Petersburg meeting

Putin met Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for more than three hours, according to Adnkronos, and Kirill Dmitriev took part for the Russian side. Peskov said Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, joined remotely. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said afterwards that Putin had agreed in principle to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after 10 November, a week after the US midterm election. Ushakov said he could not judge how close the sides were to ending the war, but that they were moving in that direction, and he judged that proposals drafted in Oslo by Ukrainian and European representatives, then passed to Putin by Witkoff, contained little of use. Trump said the parties may never have been as close to ending the war as they are now.

Zelensky backed the push for new talks but stayed cautious, and he proposed freezing the current front line as a possible first step toward a ceasefire. Significant disagreements remain over the future of contested territories and security guarantees. He spoke shortly before missile alerts sounded over Kyiv.

We'll see what happens this time.

Zelensky's response to Witkoff

Zelensky tied the strikes to remarks Witkoff made in St Petersburg, where he praised Putin's humanitarian spirit. Zelensky ironically borrowed that wording to describe the Russian attackers. He said the attack came almost immediately after another round of talks, which he read as proof that Moscow's stance had not changed. He added that when Russia answers negotiations with ballistic missiles, real pressure on Moscow is needed.