Deadly Russian Strikes Hit Ukraine as US Envoys Touch Down in Moscow

When the early‑morning sun rose over southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday, a sudden barrage of Russian missiles struck the industrial town of Kamianske. The blast ripped through a civilian facility, leaving five dead and another five injured, officials said.

It was a grim backdrop for a diplomatic shuffle that few could have predicted. US special envoys Steve Witkoff – a former Wall Street exec – and Jared Kushner, former senior adviser and son‑in‑law of President Donald Trump, landed in Moscow that same day. Their mission? To sit down with Vladimir Putin and push a new, Trump‑backed proposal that claims to finally end the war now in its fifth year.

Putin, speaking on a video posted to the Kremlin’s channel, called the situation “difficult,” acknowledging that the talks would have to grapple with the very attacks that were still unfolding on the ground. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Telegram, noting a brief phone call with the envoys before they headed to Kyiv on Sunday.

In a surprising move, the Kremlin announced a three‑day halt to strikes on Kyiv, effective from Saturday, and the Ukrainian army was ordered to observe a matching cease‑fire from midnight. The pause was meant to create a window for humanitarian work, including a separate truce brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency to repair external power at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has been running on diesel generators since August.

But the cease‑fire was far from total. Ukrainian media reported that Russian forces continued to shell civilian targets elsewhere. In the Odesa region, three people – including a 17‑year‑old boy – were wounded, while a drone strike on a shopping centre in Mykolaiv injured a teenage girl. Near Kyiv, two women were hit by a missile that hit a nine‑storey block in Boryspil.

President Zelenskyy later warned that the overnight strikes on Kyiv’s airports were “demonstrative,” possibly intended to pressure the United States into sending aircraft to land there. He said Ukraine would adjust its operations next week in response to Russian activity in its airspace.

The fighting has become increasingly drone‑centric. Russia’s jet‑powered drones, which zip through the sky at half the speed of a commercial jet, have caused a sharp rise in civilian casualties. In turn, Moscow claimed to have shot down 53 Ukrainian fixed‑wing drones overnight, some over the Moscow region.

Trump, speaking to reporters, blamed the stalemate on a “personality problem” between Zelenskyy and Putin, insisting that the two leaders “truly hate each other” and that this animosity blocks peace.

Witkoff and Kushner’s visit marks their first trip to Moscow since January, and they are slated to fly to Kyiv on Sunday – their first footstep on Ukrainian soil since Trump’s return to the White House. Whether their diplomatic sprint can translate into a lasting cease‑fire remains to be seen.