At least 2 killed in Kyiv; Putin agrees in principle to resume trilateral talks

U.S.-Ukraine row centers on Starshield and Russian diesel

Russian missile waves struck the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Thursday, according to The Guardian. The attack killed at least two people and injured 22, including four children. The Guardian characterized Russia’s attack on Ukraine as massive and “demonstrative,” reporting that the bombardment came just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed in principle to resume trilateral negotiations.

Zelenskyy said numerous sites across Kyiv had been hit and damaged. Targets included the southern bridge over the Dnipro River, civilian houses, energy infrastructure, an ambulance station, office buildings and a monastery. Twelve regions across Ukraine were also bombed, including the southern city of Odesa, where the port was badly hit. The report’s photographs were credited to Efrem Lukatsky/AP and Vladislav Musienko/AFP/Getty Images; one caption described a woman looking at her damaged Kyiv apartment on Thursday after a Russian missile attack.

In a social media post after the strikes in the early hours of Thursday, Zelenskyy wrote: “Three waves of ballistic missiles have been launched at Kyiv by Russian ‘humanitarians’ since yesterday evening. They used 21 missiles.” He said the latest devastating strikes showed that Russia was not serious about peace. “Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack. This means there has been no real change in its attitude toward everything that is happening,” he said.

On Wednesday, Putin met U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg. During the negotiations, Witkoff lavished praise on Putin, who sat across the table from him, and told him: “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.” A Guardian video caption said Witkoff called Putin a “humanitarian” after the release of a jailed American. The meeting with Witkoff was separate from the three-way negotiations, which had not taken place. Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday that Putin had agreed “in principle” to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after November 10, a week after the U.S. midterm elections.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful to those among Ukraine’s western partners who had seen “the situation for what it is” and “acknowledged the reality” that the Kremlin had little intention of stopping its war. He called for stronger air defences, Patriot interceptors that could bring down enemy missiles and more sanctions against Moscow. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said “appeasement, servility and flattery” would not stop Russian aggression.

In its standfirst, The Guardian attributed to experts the view that Russia was trying to destroy energy infrastructure before winter and that U.S. “appeasement and flattery” would not achieve peace. Separately, officials in Kyiv believed Russia’s real intention was to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions in the dark and cold.

Zelenskyy said the United States had resumed intelligence warnings of Russian missile attacks, but the White House had not reversed the slowdown of Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite system. He said the slowdown left Ukraine unable to intercept enemy drones or carry out mid-range battlefield strikes.

The New York Times reported that, when the slowdown was imposed the previous week, dozens of armed drones heading toward Russian military targets fell from the sky. Video feeds streaming their flight paths became fuzzy after the Starshield connection was lost, the newspaper said. The Guardian described the slowdown as a decision to cripple Ukraine’s “successful” drone programme.

The slowdown came amid what The Guardian described as the most serious row between Washington and Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly five years ago. The dispute began after Trump said he was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel to lower U.S. fuel prices, a move Zelenskyy called “weak.” The Trump administration denied that it was deliberately helping Russia. European diplomats said the United States appeared to have switched sides and that Ukrainian civilians were dying as a result.

Russia said it had shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones launched in overnight attacks. Local authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region said a Ukrainian aerial strike killed one man and wounded another.

Details also emerged of a Ukrainian counterattack through a tunnel in the northeastern city of Kupiansk, which Russia partly occupies. As part of Operation Veles, the Khartia Corps said it had carried out the world’s first underground counteroffensive, advancing 15km into enemy rear lines.

Brig Gen Ihor Obolenskyi, Khartia’s commander, told Ukrainian media: “We observed how the enemy operates underground and studied their methods. The Russians intended to use gas pipelines to infiltrate the rear of our forces. So, we went underground ourselves.” Ukrainian servicemen crawled 15km through tunnels without communication, GPS or light after developing navigation and life-support technologies in advance. Khartia said about 100 Russians were killed and 30 were taken prisoner.