Ukraine says Russia launched attack before talks

Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hours before U.S. and Ukrainian envoys held more talks in Geneva on ending the war that is now in its fifth year.

- BY ILLIA NOVIKOV

A FORENSIC SPECIALIST works on the remains of a Russian soldier in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Thursday.

(CHRIS MCGRATH Getty Images)

The bombardment, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted crucial infrastructure and residential areas across eight regions of Ukraine, Zelensky said. Dozens of people, including children, were injured, officials said, though authorities did not immediately publish a confirmed total.

Zelensky said late Wednesday he had spoken by phone with President Trump and thanked him for his “efforts and engagement” in pursuing peace negotiations.

The U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv are continuing but are deadlocked on the issue of Ukrainian territory that Russia claims as its own.

Zelensky has pushed for a summit with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, saying a face-to-face meeting could be decisive in unlocking an agreement, but the Kremlin has rebuffed that proposal beyond inviting the Ukrainian president to Moscow, which Zelensky refused.

Talks attended by Witkoff, Kushner

Trump representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were also discussing nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva before turning to the war in Europe, met with Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. They also joined Trump's call with Zelensky.

The envoys were to discuss economic support and the recovery of Ukraine, ways of attracting investment to the country and frameworks for long-term cooperation, Umerov said on X.