Ukraine says Russia launched a major aerial attack before Kyiv’s talks with US

Russia launched a massive aerial attack on Ukraine overnight, targeting critical infrastructure and residential areas with 420 drones and 39 missiles across eight regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Thursday. The assault, which included 11 ballistic missiles, injured dozens of people, including children.

The bombardment came just hours before U.S. and Ukrainian representatives met in Geneva for peace talks aimed at ending the conflict that has now stretched into its fifth year. These U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv continue but remain deadlocked over the status of Ukrainian territory that Russia claims as its own.

Zelenskyy revealed he had spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump by phone, thanking him for his “efforts and engagement” in pursuing a peace settlement. The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly pushed for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, believing a face-to-face meeting could break the diplomatic impasse. The Kremlin, however, has only offered to host Zelenskyy in Moscow—an invitation the Ukrainian president has declined.

Trump’s representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, in Geneva. They also joined Trump’s call with Zelenskyy. According to Umerov, the talks focused on economic support for Ukraine, investment attraction, frameworks for long-term cooperation, and preparations for the next round of trilateral negotiations involving Russia, including potential prisoner exchanges.

The United States is attempting to maintain momentum in its year-long effort to halt the fighting and overcome the deep hostility between the warring nations. However, Ukrainian and European officials have accused Putin of only feigning interest in peace talks, hoping to avoid additional U.S. sanctions while continuing the invasion.

On the streets of Kyiv, Ukrainians expressed skepticism about the negotiations. Vitalina Yefimenko, 55, from Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, voiced concerns that Russia would invade again in the future even if Ukraine made concessions now. “Of course we want peace, we really want it,” she said. “But I think that even if something is given up, we will be next—the south. It’s very frightening.”

Kyiv resident Roman Cheremisienov, 56, questioned the Trump administration’s motives, suggesting that “current U.S. policy is aimed not so much at achieving peace in Ukraine as at business interests” close to the American president. Meanwhile, Dariia Kuzmenko, a 33-year-old psychology consultant, urged Ukraine to maintain pressure, noting that Russia’s economy is suffering under international sanctions.

In a separate development, Russia returned 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine and received 35 bodies of its own troops, according to Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russian delegation at previous talks with Ukraine. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed the exchange but noted these were “bodies which, according to preliminary information provided by the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian defenders.”

The latest Russian strike targeted gas infrastructure in the Poltava region and electrical substations in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with emergency crews responding in five other regions and the capital. Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted most incoming missiles, crediting Western partners for timely deliveries of additional air defense systems. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha used the attack to urge allied countries to provide more military aid, saying “When the whole world demands Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, Putin bets on more terror, attacks and aggression.”

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses shot down 17 Ukrainian drones overnight over various Russian regions and the Black and Azov Seas. Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones have increasingly struck oil refineries, fuel depots, and military logistics hubs deep inside Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to promote unsubstantiated allegations of a purported European plot to provide Kyiv with nuclear weapons. The Kremlin-controlled lower house of the Russian parliament unanimously approved an address urging the United Nations and European lawmakers to prevent this alleged plan. This follows a statement by Russia’s foreign intelligence service claiming that France and the UK were planning to covertly transfer nuclear weapons or “dirty bomb” components to Ukraine—allegations that British and French officials have flatly dismissed as lies.