Russian strikes show 'no change' in Kremlin position

Russia and Ukraine traded attacks overnight as Moscow said Ukraine had launched 630 drones towards Russia.

The attacks came shortly after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg.

It was "the closest we've been" to ending the war, US President Donald Trump said after Mr Witkoff's meeting with Mr Putin yesterday.

The Kremlin indicated it was "in principle" open to the resumption of trilateral talks between the two sides with the United States.

However, attacks did not let up in the wake of the visit, with Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko saying that strikes had wounded 15 people in the Ukrainian capital, eight of whom needed hospitalisation.

Mr Klitschko also said that strikes had damaged metro infrastructure at the Pivdennyi Bridge, which had restricted traffic between parts of the city.

Ukraine's Air Force posted a warning in the early hours of "more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv" and instructed residents to stay in shelters.

Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that two people had been wounded during the barrage of 630 drones, 163 of which were approaching the capital city.

Mr Witkoff had flown to Russia after meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday in an effort to smooth over a rift between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.

Mr Witkoff praised the Russian president as a "humanitarian" for freeing US citizen Stephen Hubbard.

Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also took part in the talks remotely.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was "in principle, ready to resume" trilateral talks in mid-November, after the US midterm elections, and that the Kremlin wanted them to focus on post-war security.

'Work left to do'

Mr Ushakov said Mr Witkoff briefed the Russian leader on "some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv" from the Oslo meeting, although adding that "there wasn't really much substance in them".

A summit between Mr Putin, Mr Trump and China's Xi Jinping was also being prepared in China's Shenzhen for next month, Mr Ushakov said, calling it "the first such meeting in history".

During their three-hour meeting, Mr Witkoff praised Mr Putin for granting a request to free Mr Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had always denied the charges that he was a "mercenary" fighting for Ukraine.

The US envoy 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.

Donald Trump returned to power in January 2025 promising to end the war in 24 hours, but more than a year of US-led talks have failed to produce a breakthrough, with tens of thousands killed.

Recently, Mr Trump has once again shifted away from Ukraine and back to Mr Putin, after he agreed a deal to buy diesel from Moscow.

The US president also delayed the imposition of sanctions on Russia, a decision he said was necessary to secure Mr Hubbard's release.

"If you would've put those sanctions on... you could forget about him. You'd never see him again," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.

The US envoy told Mr Putin that Washington was "grateful" for the diesel deal, which sparked outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.

"The American side is proposing to organise this meeting as soon as possible. We are in favour of it," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists.

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Mr Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.

Mr Witkoff's ninth meeting with the Mr Putin came as Russia continued to strike Ukrainian cities ahead of winter.

Kyiv said Russian attacks killed at least four people yesterday, including two in the capital and an elderly couple in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Russian occupation authorities in the Lugansk region, meanwhile, said a Ukrainian drone strike on a phone company had killed two people.