KYIV – In the early hours of Saturday, Russian missile and drone assaults on Kyiv claimed the lives of at least two individuals, as reported by local authorities. These attacks occurred just ahead of a scheduled round of peace discussions, coinciding with a renewed initiative led by the U.S. to bring an end to the ongoing conflict.

The Kyiv City Military Administration announced on its Telegram channel that two fatalities resulted from these strikes.

According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, 29 people sustained injuries. He noted that fragments from intercepted Russian drones struck residential areas, and the western region of Kyiv experienced a power outage.

This recent attack on the capital comes as Ukrainian negotiators prepare to engage in discussions with their American counterparts in the U.S. over the weekend, as revealed by an anonymous official from Ukraine’s presidential administration due to the confidential nature of the negotiations.

Following these discussions, a U.S. delegation plans to visit Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the latter part of next week.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week released a plan for ending the nearly four-year war. The 28-point proposal heavily favored Russia, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future in the face of Russian aggression, scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns.

Trump said Tuesday that his plan to end the war had been “fine-tuned” and that he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia to meet with Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials. He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.

Zelenskyy announced Friday the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who was also the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S, after anti-corruption investigators searched Yermak’s residence.

The unprecedented search at the heart of Ukraine’s government was a blow to the Ukrainian leader, risking the disruption of his negotiating strategy at a time when Kyiv is under intense U.S. pressure to sign a peace deal.

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