Russia fires 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv after Witkoff visit
Zelenskyy reports two dead and 34 wounded after three overnight waves, as Washington speaks of resuming negotiations with Moscow and Kyiv.
Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves overnight Thursday, hours after Vladimir Putin received U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave the figure, and the attack also included hundreds of drones.
Around 3 a.m. Kyiv time, one wave brought at least 13 explosions in under eight minutes. Another, around 3:34 a.m., knocked out power and wireless internet in the city. At midday the ballistic missile alert sounded again.
The Ukrainian air force counted 210 drones, 110 of them jet-powered, and said it shot down or neutralized 181. None of the ballistic missiles was intercepted.
In the capital and its region, two people were killed and 34 wounded, five of them children, according to the tally Zelenskyy gave later; Kyiv's prosecutor's office had earlier reported one dead and 24 wounded. The damage he listed includes homes, energy facilities, a train station, the metro, shops and a monastery. Mayor Vitali Klitschko counted six ambulances destroyed.
Zelenskyy also spoke of three missiles with cluster warheads. Ukrainian officials say so; there is no independent confirmation.
Elsewhere, authorities in the Kharkiv region report that a Russian air strike on a market killed at least two people and wounded 17.
If Russia answers negotiations with ballistic missiles, Zelenskyy said, "real pressure must be applied" on Moscow. He asked for more air defense, faster deliveries of missiles and sanctions.
Witkoff, who met Zelenskyy in Oslo on Tuesday, wrote on X that his talks with Putin were "constructive" and that trilateral negotiations among the United States, Russia and Ukraine will continue. No date has been announced for the next round.
