KYIV, October 22 (Aalimi Nation) – Russian drone and missile attacks struck Kyiv overnight into Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20, hours after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.
Ukraine's emergency service said 22 people were injured in the capital, including four children. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said part of the metro infrastructure at the South Bridge across the Dnipro river was damaged. Homes, vehicles and other buildings were hit and fires broke out in several places, Ukrainian officials said.
Kyiv strikes: what each side said
Russia's Defence Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian military-industrial facilities that produce and store cruise missiles and drones, along with transport sites. Ukrainian officials reported damage to residential buildings. In the Odesa region, a food production facility was struck and its administrative building destroyed by fire, with no injuries reported. The Russian ministry said it had targeted port infrastructure in that region. These accounts could not be independently confirmed.
Drone attacks on Russia
Russian officials also reported heavy Ukrainian drone activity overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukraine launched 630 drones toward the Moscow region, 163 of them heading for the capital. He said most were intercepted and two people were wounded. The governor of Tula region said air defences destroyed 70 drones, and the governor of Lipetsk region reported that another man was wounded.
Witkoff meeting with Putin
Witkoff met Putin at Constantine Palace in St Petersburg on Wednesday to push for renewed peace talks. During the visit, Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a US teacher held for four years, as a goodwill gesture. Witkoff described the discussions as constructive and praised Putin as a "humanitarian".
The Kremlin said Moscow was willing "in principle" to restart US-mediated talks with Ukraine, while arguing that Ukrainian and European peace proposals had little substance. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said talks should focus on security arrangements for the period after the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia supports a trilateral meeting at the level of negotiating teams and that he wanted it held no later than early November.
US President Donald Trump said he believed the war may be as close to ending as it has ever been.
Reaction in Kyiv
Witkoff's remarks that Washington was "grateful" for an arrangement allowing Russia to sell diesel drew criticism in Kyiv and across Europe. The arrangement was announced by Trump to ease fuel prices that rose after the US-Israel war on Iran. He has also delayed a new round of Russia-related sanctions, which he defended as necessary to secure Hubbard's release.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Thursday that appeasement would not stop Russia's war. "Only strength will," he said.
Background
The war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, is Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II and has killed tens of thousands of people. Putin has repeatedly rejected face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy and has said Moscow intends to take the rest of eastern Ukraine.
