• Witkoff briefs Russian president on ‘new aspects in approaches of Europeans and Kyiv’ from Oslo meeting
• Moscow mayor says 630 drones launched towards region
• Russian strikes injure 15 people in Kyiv
• Kremlin aide tells media Russia ready to resume trilateral talks in mid-November

KYIV: Russia and Ukraine traded major attacks overnight, with Moscow’s mayor saying on Thursday that 630 drones had been launched towards the region, shortly after a US envoy held talks with the Russian president in Saint Petersburg.

It was “the closest we’ve been” to ending the war, US President Donald Trump said after his envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

The Kremlin indicated it was “in principle” open to the resumption of trilateral talks between the two sides with the United States.

But attacks did not let up in the wake of the visit, with Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko posting on social media that strikes had wounded 15 people in the Ukrainian capital, eight of whom needed hospitalisation.

He said in a separate post that strikes had damaged metro infrastructure at the Pivdenny Bridge, which officials said had restricted traffic between parts of the city.

Ukraine’s airforce posted a war­ning in the early hours of “more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv” and ins­tructed residents to stay in shelters.

Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that two people had been wounded during mostly-intercepted barrages of 630 drones headed towards the region, 163 of which were approaching the capital city.

Witkoff had flown to Russia from a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, which was aimed at smoothing over a bitter rift between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.

Witkoff praised Putin as a “humanitarian” for freeing US citizen Stephen Hubbard, but the Kremlin warned after the meeting that while Moscow was “in principle” willing to restart talks there was little “substance” in Ukrainian and European peace proposals the US diplomat had delivered.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was “in principle, ready to resume” trilateral talks in mid-November — after the US midterm elections — and that the Kremlin wanted them to focus on post-war security.

‘Work left to do’

Ushakov said Witkoff brie­fed Putin on “some new asp­ects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv” from the Oslo meeting, adding though that “there wasn’t really much substance in them”.

A summit between Putin, Trump and China’s Xi Jinping was also being prepared in China’s Shenzhen for next month, Ushakov said, calling it “the first such meeting in history”.

During their three-hour meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for granting Trump’s request to free Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had always denied the charges he was a “mercenary” fighting for Ukraine.

“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian — you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” Witkoff said.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2026