Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight strikes that killed seven people in Ukraine, hours after US President Donald Trump’s envoy met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg.
Trump struck an upbeat note following envoy Steve Witkoff’s talks with Putin on Wednesday, saying negotiators were “maybe now the closest we’ve been” to bringing the war to an end.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, said it was “in principle” willing to revive trilateral negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Despite the diplomatic signals, the fighting continued.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two people were injured during massive waves of drone attacks. A total of 630 drones were reportedly launched toward the region, including 163 that were heading toward the Russian capital.
In the Lipetsk region, another man was wounded as Russian air defences brought down 70 drones.
Ukraine reported deaths in several regions: one man in Sumy and one woman in Kharkiv, both in the northeast; three people in southeastern Zaporizhzhia; and two in the eastern Donetsk region.
The strikes also left 15 people injured in Kyiv.
Natalya reacts while surveying damage inside her home after an aerial attack on October 22 in Kyiv, Ukraine
Residents examine the scene of a Russian missile strike on a private home in a Kyiv residential district on October 22, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets US special envoy Steve Witkoff before talks at the Constantine Palace in Strelna, a suburb of Saint Petersburg, on October 21
Russian strikes damaged metro infrastructure at Kyiv’s Pivdenny Bridge, prompting officials to restrict traffic between parts of the city.
Ukraine’s air force issued an early-morning alert warning of “more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv” and urged residents to remain in shelters.
Witkoff travelled to Russia after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday. That encounter was intended to ease a deepening dispute between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joined the discussions with Putin remotely.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was “in principle, ready to resume” trilateral negotiations in mid-November, after the US midterm elections. He said Moscow wanted the talks to address security arrangements after the war.
Zelensky said Ukraine also supported restarting the trilateral dialogue.
Ushakov said Witkoff had briefed Putin on “some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv” following the Oslo meeting, but added that they contained “not really much substance”.
Preparations were also under way for a summit involving Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen next month, Ushakov said, describing it as “the first such meeting in history”.
Notes held by Steve Witkoff during his meeting with Putin read: “momentum needs to build”
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(Left to right) Finnish President Alexander Stubb, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store meet in Oslo, Norway, October 20
During their three-hour meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for granting Trump’s request to free US citizen Stephen Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had been detained for fighting for Ukraine – charges he denied.
‘You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian – you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,’ Witkoff said.
Video of the compliment spread rapidly on social media, and commentators on the Right were as quick as those on the Left to voice their disbelief.
Fox News political analyst Guy Benson replied with a curt ‘Come ON’, Piers Morgan answered with a vomiting emoji, and HuffPost’s senior White House correspondent SV Date asked whether Witkoff could be ‘deported to Russia’.
Washington Post columnist Max Boot called the moment ‘nauseating and embarrassing’, while CNN analyst Josh Rogin’s verdict was simply ‘WTAF’.
The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum asked how ‘humanitarian’ could apply to a leader whose forces kill civilians and abduct children, and have his permission to torture and rape.
Witkoff said on social media the talks with Putin were ‘constructive’ but that ‘there is still important work left to do’.
Discussions would continue between the United States, Ukraine and Russia at the technical level, he added.
Trump returned to power in January 2025 promising to end the war in 24 hours – but more than a year of US-led talks have failed to produce a breakthrough.
In recent days, a frustrated Trump has once again pivoted away from Ukraine and back to Putin, trumpeting what he said was a deal for Russia to sell diesel and reduce prices sent soaring by his Iran war.
Trump also delayed the imposition of sanctions on Russia’s war machine – a decision he defended on Wednesday as necessary to secure Hubbard’s release.
‘If you would’ve put those sanctions on… you could forget about him. You’d never see him again,’ Trump told reporters at the White House.
Witkoff told Putin Washington was ‘grateful’ for the diesel deal, which sparked outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.
Thanking the Russian president, Witkoff said: ‘I want to thank you for your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia and to sell not just to the United States but also to the world at large.
‘I know the president is deeply grateful for it, as are our farmers and other truckers who use diesel and have been adversely affected by this diesel crisis, and people all over the world. So it’s an example of us all working together, and I want to say thank you to you for that.’
Witkoff added that he had brought ‘ideas’ for a possible peace deal with Ukraine, telling Putin: ‘We’ve brought some papers. It’s really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you’ll read that at your leisure.’
The war, Europe’s worst since World War II, has killed tens of thousands of people since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.