Russia launched its biggest overnight aerial attack on Ukraine so far this year, local authorities said on Saturday, hours after negotiators from Kyiv, Moscow and Washington met for their first known trilateral meeting since the war began, and agreed to continue talks over the weekend.
Missile and drone attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital, according to the country’s air force, which activated air defenses. CNN journalists in Kyiv reported hearing explosions.
At least one person died and four people were wounded by the strikes, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. He added that falling debris had caused fires and damaged buildings, with nearly 6,000 apartment blocks losing heat, and other parts of the city cut off from water supply. As of Saturday morning local time it was – 12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv in the northeast, also came under attack – with strikes damaging a maternity hospital and a dormitory for displaced people, according to city mayor Ihor Terekhov. At least 19 people were wounded, including one child.
In total, Russia launched more than 370 drones and 21 missiles overnight, with other targets including Sumy and Chernihiv, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday. He added that the attacks had focused on Ukraine’s energy sector, which is “critical” during the cold winter.
The attacks came shortly after delegations from both countries finished their first day of talks with US representatives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Russia sent a military team to attend, including a top spy and military intelligence chief; Ukraine sent top negotiators including diplomats and security officials; and the US was represented by President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
The meeting likely focused on territory, namely the mineral-rich eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas, which has important rivers and fertile farmland. Russia has long demanded that Kyiv give up the parts of the Donbas it still controls, which Ukraine has repeatedly rejected.
The Trump administration has pressured Ukraine to accept a peace deal, despite widespread concerns such an arrangement could favor Moscow.
Nearly four years since launching a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russia occupies around 20% of the territory recognized under international law as part of sovereign Ukraine. That includes almost all of the Luhansk region, and parts of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
After the day’s talks wrapped, Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote on X that the meeting had focused on reaching a “dignified and lasting peace,” and thanked the US for mediating.
“Additional meetings are scheduled for tomorrow,” he said.
Zelensky struck a cautious note, saying it was “too early” to draw conclusions from Friday’s talks. “We will see how the talks go tomorrow and what the results will be,” he said afterward in a daily address.
He said the “main thing” in the talks is for Russia to finally be ready to end the war, adding: “Ukraine’s position is clear. I have defined the framework for dialogue for our delegation.”
CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, Nina Subkhanberdina, Victoria Butenko, Darya Tarasova, Helen Regan and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.
