- Diplomatic progress. After meeting US envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin agreed in principle to resume three-way peace talks with Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
- Battlefield reality. Within hours of that agreement, Russian forces fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves overnight, killing at least four people and wounding dozens across 12 regions of Ukraine.
- Stake. The disconnect between Russia’s diplomatic signals and its military conduct has become the defining tension of the US-mediated peace effort, testing how far Washington will push Moscow for tangible concessions.
Russia launched at least 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves overnight on October 22, hours after President Vladimir Putin had agreed in principle to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the strikes hit apartment buildings, energy facilities, a railway station, the Kyiv subway, and several shopping centres. One missile carrying cluster munitions struck downtown Kyiv, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov.
The St. Petersburg Meeting
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff had met Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, the day before the strikes, following a separate meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Norway on Tuesday. The Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia had agreed in principle to resume trilateral negotiations, with talks likely after November 10. Zelensky told reporters he hoped talks could start in early November, though he said only a meeting of leaders could break the fundamental deadlock.
The missile barrage followed the same pattern observed when Russia struck six Ukrainian energy sites hours after Trump announced a ceasefire in late September, reinforcing Kyiv’s argument that diplomatic assurances from Moscow have not been matched by action on the ground.
Casualties and Damage
Zelensky said at least four people were killed and dozens wounded across Ukraine in the overnight strikes, including five children. In Kyiv specifically, one person was killed. In Lozova in the Kharkiv region, two women were killed at a market and dozens were wounded in a separate strike. Russian forces also targeted the port of Odesa, where Ukraine says vessels used by its armed forces were hit.
Ukraine responded with a large drone campaign of its own. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 808 Ukrainian drones, with Moscow’s mayor reporting that 630 had been aimed at the Russian capital. Ukraine reported no casualties from its counterstrikes.
What Zelensky Said
The Ukrainian president said Moscow showed “no real change” in its conduct and called again on Washington to provide more Patriot anti-missile ammunition and to tighten sanctions on Russia. “We’ll see what happens this time,” he said of the prospective talks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attacks “brutal” and said that “only strength will stop the war.”
The attacks come as Putin has separately proposed a three-way summit with Trump and Xi at APEC in November, an arrangement that would sideline Zelensky from any negotiated framework. Zelensky has consistently said he must be present at any talks that determine Ukraine’s territorial future.