Russian overnight strike wounds two in Kyiv, damages kindergarten

A Russian strike wounded at least two people in Kyiv on Saturday, the capital's military administration said, as explosions echoed across the city. The overnight attack also ignited a fire in a non-residential building and damaged a kindergarten in the Solomenskyi district, according to the same administration.

Ukrainian outlet Suspilne News reported repeated blasts over the capital, a familiar and grim soundtrack for Kyiv residents who have weathered strike after strike. The reported toll and damage had not been independently confirmed by other outlets at the time of writing.

The strike landed just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had intelligence pointing to an incoming Russian assault on Ukraine's energy facilities. In a video address on Telegram, Zelensky flagged bridges over the Dnieper River and civilian infrastructure as possible targets, and said the Air Force and Armed Forces are bracing for the defense — though he warned the job won't be easy. He pressed Western allies not to delay deliveries of Patriot air defense systems, calling every agreement and every delivery day critical.

Diplomacy is running on a parallel track. Zelensky said on X that Kyiv handed the United States what he called realistic proposals for a peace agreement, ahead of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, and thanked the leaders of the Nordic-Baltic Eight for their backing. He also insisted the European Union must be part of any deal, arguing all European nations deserve guaranteed security.

From Washington, US President Donald Trump told reporters he believes Russia and Ukraine want to end the war for the first time, teasing what he called a very big settlement that would involve all of Europe. Trump said meetings are lined up for Monday and Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas made her own pitch at the Council of the Baltic Sea States Ministerial Meeting in Warsaw, saying any peace deal has to include the EU to actually be implemented. She warned another hard winter looms for Ukraine, claiming Moscow will target power stations, and said the bloc is adding €4.36 billion in support loans for Kyiv — while conceding more is needed. Kallas was blunt about the EU's role: not a mediator, but firmly on Ukraine's side.