Russian attacks kill at least six people in Ukraine as peace plan talks continue

Kiev, Ukraine – Russia launched a wave of attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev overnight, killing at least six people in attacks on city buildings and energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.

The attacks came amid a renewed U.S. push to end the war that has raged for nearly four years and a U.S. peace plan is being discussed. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi for several hours on Tuesday, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Driscoll, who joined the US negotiating team less than two weeks ago, is leading the final phase of talks on the terms of a possible peace settlement with Russia.

The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, declined to give details on how long the talks would last or what topics would be discussed, but noted that the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting and that all sides indicated they wanted to reach an agreement to stop the fighting as soon as possible.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become feasible” after progress was made in Sunday’s talks between US and Ukrainian delegates in Geneva. He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with President Donald Trump.

Rustem Umerov, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, wrote on social platform X on Tuesday that the Ukrainian leader hoped to finalize a deal with Trump “at the earliest suitable date in November.”

Russian officials have been cautious in their comments on the peace plan.

European leaders have warned that the road to peace will be long.

‘Glass rained’

Russia fired 22 missiles of different types and more than 460 drones at Ukraine in one night, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. The strikes caused water, electricity and heat outages in parts of Kiev. Video footage posted on Telegram showed a large fire spreading in a nine-storey residential building in Kiev’s eastern Dniprovskyi district.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said two people were killed and five injured in Dniprovskyi and another residential building in the central Pecherskyi district was badly damaged.

Liubov Petrivna, a 90-year-old resident of a damaged building in the Dniprovskyi district, told the AP that “absolutely everything” in her apartment was shattered by the strike and that “glass rained on her.”

Petrivna said she did not believe in the peace plan now under discussion: “No one will ever do anything about it. Putin will not stop until he finishes us off.”

Four people were killed and three injured in an attack on a non-residential building in Kiev’s western Sviatoshynyi district in a subsequent wave of attacks, according to the head of Kyiv’s city administration, Tymur Tkachenko.

Neighboring countries Romania and Moldova reported that a handful of drones violated their airspace.

Strikes have hit energy infrastructure

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said energy infrastructure had been affected, without providing details. Six people, including two children, were injured in a Russian attack on energy and port infrastructure in the Odessa region, according to Ukrainian emergency services.

A Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s southern Rostov region killed three people and injured eight others overnight in the city of Taganrog, not far from the border with Ukraine, Governor Yuri Slyusar said in an online statement.

The attack damaged private houses and multi-storey residential blocks, unspecified social facilities, a warehouse and a paint shop, Slyusar said.

Russian air defenses destroyed 249 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions and occupied Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, noting that 116 of the drones were shot down over the Black Sea.

According to AP figures, it was the fourth largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia.

Peace efforts moving in ‘right direction’

The latest attacks followed peace plan talks in Switzerland between representatives of the US and Ukraine.

Oleksandr Bevz, a delegate from the Ukrainian side, told the AP that the talks had been “very constructive” and that the two sides were able to discuss most points.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Moscow had not received the updated US peace plan that emerged from that meeting.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that the US plan for Ukraine “goes in the right direction”, but also warned that it should not be a “capitulation” that allows Russia to resume hostilities later.

Any peace deal must include robust security guarantees for Ukraine and, more broadly, for Europe, Macron said in an interview with broadcaster RTL, adding that the size of Ukraine’s armed forces should not be limited so that it can defend the country in peacetime.

Macron spoke ahead of a video conference on Tuesday about countries, led by France and Britain, that could help monitor a ceasefire with Russia.

“We want peace, but we don’t want peace. That is in fact a capitulation. That is, it puts Ukraine in an impossible position that ultimately gives Russia the freedom to continue, to go further,” Macron said.

“No one can replace the Ukrainians in saying what territorial concessions they are willing to make,” he added. “There is only one person who does not want peace: that is Russia.”