Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killed at least two people in the early hours of Saturday, local officials have confirmed.
The deadly strikes occurred just ahead of a second round of peace negotiations, as a renewed US-led diplomatic effort to end the conflict gains momentum this week.
The Kyiv City Military Administration announced on its official Telegram channel that two individuals had died in the assaults.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that 15 people were wounded, adding that falling debris from intercepted Russian drones struck residential buildings. He also noted that the western districts of Kyiv had experienced power outages.
This latest barrage on Kyiv coincides with Ukrainian peace negotiators preparing to meet their US counterparts in America this weekend.
This information comes from an official within Ukraine’s presidential administration, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.
A US delegation is subsequently expected to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the latter half of next week.
The renewed diplomatic push follows a 28-point proposal for ending the nearly four-year war, released last week by Donald Trump. The plan, which was seen to heavily favour Russia, prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to swiftly engage with American negotiators.
European leaders, fearing for their own future facing 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.
Zelensky announced Friday the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, who was also the country’s lead negotiator in the talks with the US, after Yermak’s residence was searched by anti-corruption investigators.
The unprecedented search at the heart of Ukraine’s government was a blow for the Ukrainian leader that risked disrupting his negotiating strategy at a time when Kyiv is under intense U.S. pressure to sign a peace deal.
