Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations over overnight drone and missile strikes on Thursday as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for high-level discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising hopes of progress in ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war.
The latest attacks caused casualties, power outages and damage to energy and transport infrastructure across several Ukrainian regions, while Russian authorities also reported intercepting Ukrainian drones over multiple parts of the country.
The strikes came as Washington intensified diplomatic engagement with Moscow and Kyiv following two days of US-mediated peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
In Ukraine, Rivne regional governor Oleksandr Koval said Russian overnight airstrikes had targeted energy infrastructure and residential areas, leaving several communities without electricity.
“There are power outages in settlements across the Rivne and Sarny districts,” Koval said in a statement posted on Telegram.
He said the town of Kostopil was particularly affected, with critical infrastructure facilities forced to switch to generator power to maintain essential services.
Koval added that preliminary information indicated no casualties in the Rivne region. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said emergency personnel, working alongside other services, had completed operations at the affected site.
In the Zhytomyr region, one person was injured following multiple attacks over the previous 24 hours that damaged energy infrastructure facilities, according to the DSNS.
The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, also came under attack, with the city’s military administration issuing air raid alerts throughout the evening and urging residents to seek shelter.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and seven others injured after a Russian drone struck a nine-story residential building in the Solomianskyi district.
Further casualties were reported in the surrounding Kyiv region. Ukraine’s National Police said two people were killed and three others injured in separate strikes. A production and storage facility belonging to an enterprise was among the sites damaged.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said overnight attacks had caused damage to energy and transport infrastructure in eight regions, including Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Kharkiv.
Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defence systems had intercepted or shot down 94 of the 123 drones launched by Russia overnight. It also reported that Russia had fired an unspecified number of ballistic and anti-ship missiles but did not provide further details about their interception or impact.
Moscow, meanwhile, described its operations as large-scale attacks against Ukrainian military and strategic infrastructure.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out “massive” strikes against facilities associated with Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sectors, as well as an ammunition depot in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
The ministry also claimed that Russian air defence systems had destroyed 71 Ukrainian drones across seven Russian regions and Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russian regional authorities reported several incidents overnight.
Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said an attack had been repelled over the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and Chertkovsky districts in the southern region. He said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage on the ground, adding that authorities were verifying the situation.
Omsk Governor Vitaliy Khotsenko reported that one person had been injured in overnight strikes, while Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said five drones heading towards the Russian capital had been intercepted.
Ukraine had not immediately commented on the reported attacks inside Russia. Independent verification of claims made by either side remains difficult amid the continuing conflict.
The overnight exchanges unfolded against the backdrop of renewed diplomatic efforts led by Washington to secure progress towards ending the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Two days of US-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations concluded in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, producing a new prisoner exchange agreement between the two countries. However, details of the arrangement had not yet been officially confirmed.
Following the negotiations, Kushner told reporters that he and Witkoff would travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin.
He said discussions would include finalising the numbers involved in the proposed prisoner exchange and addressing the possibility of European participation in future negotiations. Russia has so far opposed Europe’s proposed inclusion in the talks.
“We’ll finalize the numbers” for the prisoner exchange, Kushner said, outlining the agenda for the Moscow discussions.
The two US envoys arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on Thursday morning, where they were received by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
After their meetings in Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Ireland to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy arrived in Dublin on Wednesday ahead of two scheduled meetings involving European leaders on Thursday and Friday, as Kyiv continues consultations with its Western partners over the diplomatic process.
The latest round of strikes highlights the continuing gap between military developments on the battlefield and diplomatic efforts to reach a settlement. While Washington is seeking progress on prisoner exchanges and broader negotiations, attacks on civilian areas and critical infrastructure continue to underscore the challenges facing any potential peace agreement.
