Russian strikes killed at least five people in Ukraine overnight as Moscow and Kiev await the arrival of U.S. envoys to renew efforts to end the more than four-year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The planned visit by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, aims to revive peace talks amid escalating airstrikes from both sides.
According to Russian media, the two envoys have already landed in Moscow. They will meet with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Reuters reported, citing officials familiar with the matter. Dmitriev, who told Reuters in June that he had been in contact with U.S. negotiators during a break in their visits to Russia, has participated in all of their previous meetings with President Vladimir Putin. He also played a role in negotiating the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil earlier this year.
The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops struggle to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying jet-powered drones, and the repeated wail of air raid sirens has become a part of everyday life in Kiev.
The strikes come despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's announcement yesterday that Ukraine would halt air strikes during the visit of Witkoff and Kushner and calling on Moscow to do the same.
A Russian ballistic missile strike on a Ukrainian steel plant in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region killed five people, damaged production facilities and infrastructure, forcing the suspension of all operations, steelmaker Metinvest said, quoted by Reuters.
“This is another attack on a civilian steel asset of Metinvest and further evidence of Russia's systematic strikes on Ukraine's industrial base,“ the company said in a statement. The statement said the Kamet Steel plant produces pig iron and steel exclusively for civilian purposes.
In a statement today, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “main suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”
Two more people were wounded in a Russian attack overnight on Ukraine’s Kiev region, said Timur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian attacks in Russia’s border region of Belgorod wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, local authorities said.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.