- Russia resumed strikes on Kyiv hours after a three-day truce expired and U.S. envoys departed
- The attacks hit drone and missile production sites, including a plant tied to a corruption scandal involving a Zelensky associate
- At least three people were killed and more than 20 wounded in the Ukrainian capital
- Weekend talks between U.S. envoys and leaders in Moscow and Kyiv produced no concrete ceasefire agreement
- Ukraine carried out retaliatory drone strikes on Russian cities, wounding civilians including children
Russian forces resumed precision strikes on Ukrainian defense factories and logistics hubs in Kyiv early Tuesday, hours after a three-day truce expired – a pause timed to allow U.S. peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to shuttle between Moscow and the Ukrainian capital for ceasefire talks.
The Kremlin's Defense Ministry said it struck facilities producing drones and cruise missiles, including the Kiev Radio Plant, which manufactured components for reconnaissance and strike UAVs, including long-range models used in attacks on Russian civilian areas. Another target was a Fire Point plant that made warheads for attack drones and cruise missiles. Zelensky has publicly championed Fire Point's products abroad, even though the company traces back to Timur Mindich, a close Zelensky associate who fled Ukraine last year after being implicated in a $100 million corruption scandal.
Moscow framed the overnight barrage, which involved ground-, air-, and sea-based precision weapons plus long-range attack drones, as retaliation for Ukraine's near-daily drone strikes on residential areas inside Russia. Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed and more than 20 wounded in the capital as emergency crews worked through the day — a sharp rise from Russia's initial count of six wounded. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported damage across multiple districts of the city.
U.S. envoys' weekend diplomacy yields no immediate cease-fire
The strikes came one day after Witkoff and Kushner wrapped up separate meetings with Putin in Moscow — where Kremlin talks stretched past three hours — and then with Zelensky in Kyiv. Putin had ordered the military stand-down for the duration of the envoys' visit, which Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described as conducted in an "atmosphere of trust."
Witkoff said he had a positive feeling about the talks and expressed hope for trilateral negotiations — involving the United States, Ukraine, and Russia — to be announced soon. Zelensky quipped that the envoys "worked even better than the Patriot systems" and invited them to visit more often.
Yet no concrete cease-fire terms emerged. A White House official told Reuters that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.
Kremlin hits Vaslikov airbase, SBU surveillance facility in expanded attack
Beyond Kyiv proper, the Russian military struck the Vaslikov airbase and a radio-electronic surveillance facility belonging to Ukraine's SBU security service in Markhalyovka, outside the capital. In the Odessa region, facilities at the port of Chornomorsk — which Russian officials say handles unloading of military supplies — were also targeted.
Russia's Defense Ministry insists its strikes hit only military targets and infrastructure tied to Ukraine's war effort, not civilians. Russian officials characterize Kyiv's own drone strikes on Russian soil as terrorism meant to offset setbacks on a battlefield where Russian troops continue to grind forward.
Ukrainian drone attacks strike Russian cities in parallel escalation
As Moscow pounded Kyiv, Ukrainian drone attacks hit civilian infrastructure in the Russian city of Saratov, nearly 1,000 kilometers from Moscow, wounding 10 people, three of them children. Separate strikes killed one person in Starodub in the Bryansk region and two others in Crimea, according to local Russian governors. Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
A three-day pause gives way to deeper distrust
The immediate resumption of hostilities after a brief diplomatic window underscores the deep mistrust between the warring parties. Zelensky has urged Western allies to provide more interceptor missiles, warning that ballistic missiles remain "particularly difficult" to shoot down. For Moscow, the pause appears to have been a tactical courtesy rather than a prelude to compromise.
With both sides escalating long-range strikes and peace talks stalled, the conflict shows every sign of grinding on into its fifth year, even as Kyiv presses Washington and European capitals for still more aid, including a fresh $135 million UK air-defense package announced the same day. The speed of the return to bombardment is its own answer. The truce wasn't a step toward de-escalation; it was a courtesy extended for the safety of visiting American dignitaries, and it expired the moment they were gone. Whatever "atmosphere of trust" Peskov described in Moscow, it hasn't yet translated into anything resembling a step back from the war itself.
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