Kyiv struck by missiles as Kremlin signals openness to peace talks

Missile strikes hit Kyiv through the night, wounding six people in the capital, four of whom required hospital treatment, mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post. Ukraine's air force issued an early-hours warning of further ballistic missiles heading toward the city and told residents to remain in shelters. Russian authorities separately said they intercepted drones overnight, including more than 160 flying toward Moscow.

The bombardment came just after Moscow indicated it was prepared to return to trilateral negotiations with Kyiv and Washington. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Russia was ready in principle to restart talks in mid-November, after the US midterm elections, and wanted them centred on post-war security. He added that the Ukrainian and European proposals Witkoff carried from a meeting in Oslo contained little substance.

The signals followed a three-hour meeting in Saint Petersburg between Witkoff and Putin, the US envoy's ninth such encounter, with Jared Kushner joining remotely. Witkoff described the discussions as constructive but said important work remained, and that talks would continue at the technical level. Trump told reporters afterward that the two sides were the closest they had been to ending the war.

Witkoff praised Putin for releasing US citizen Stephen Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had denied charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. Trump said he delayed sanctions on Russia's war machine to secure Hubbard's freedom, arguing the penalties would have ended any chance of his release. According to France 24, Ushakov also said a summit involving Putin, Trump and China's Xi Jinping was being prepared in Shenzhen for next month, which he called the first such meeting in history.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv also supports resuming the three-way format, telling journalists the American side wants the meeting organised as soon as possible. Witkoff had travelled to Russia from Oslo, where he met Zelensky on Tuesday in an effort to ease friction between Washington and Kyiv that included Trump's calls for the Ukrainian leader to be replaced.

Fighting has continued ahead of winter, with Kyiv saying Russian attacks killed at least four people on Wednesday, including two in the capital and an elderly couple in the eastern Kharkiv region. Russian occupation authorities in the Lugansk region said a Ukrainian drone strike on a phone company killed two people. Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, has rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insists Moscow will seize the remainder of east Ukraine.