Russia pummels Kyiv after three-day halt

• Russia resumed drone attacks on Kyiv after a three-day pause during US envoys' visit to the region.
• Kyiv's military administration issued air raid alerts and urged residents to seek shelter from drone threats.
• US envoy Steve Witkoff highlighted progress in talks, suggesting possible revival of peace negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia, and the US.

KYIV – A wave of strong explosions rang out in Kyiv, AFP journalists said early on Sept 8, as Russia resumed strikes on the Ukrainian capital after a three-day halt.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the three-day halt in Moscow’s strikes on Kyiv as US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited the Russian and Ukrainian capitals at the weekend.

The fresh explosions triggered fires and car alarms in the city, Kyiv’s city military administration said at least two people were killed and seven wounded.

The Ukrainian army’s air force reported a missile attack, with the Kyiv city military administration urging residents to take shelter as the air defence system was in operation.

The strikes damaged buildings in the capital, including a five-storey apartment block in the Solomianskyi district, while vehicles caught fire in the Podilskyi district, authorities said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said people were trapped in a residential building.

Russian state news agency TASS confirmed earlier that the pause in strikes had expired.

Air alerts were active in a dozen regions across Ukraine at around 5.30am local time.

The alert in Kyiv has since been cleared.

Telegram channels monitoring air threats on Ukraine said Russia had started to transport ballistic missiles and relocate heavy bombers from the country’s east to airfields closer to Ukraine.

Poland also announced “aviation operations” had begun following the Russian attack.

Witkoff touted on Sept 7 that “substantive progress” had been made in the discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

“President Trump is working hard to stop the killing and work towards a lasting and durable peace,” he said on X.

Witkoff and Kushner met Putin in Moscow on Sept 5, before holding separate talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in their first official trip to the city.

The Kremlin announced on Sept 7 that it did not rule out three-way talks, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters “it is too early to say anything about the venue or the exact dates at this stage”.

Zelensky told US news outlet Axios that the United States was pushing to de-escalate the conflict ahead of the long winter.

Russia has struck Ukraine’s energy grid each winter since invading in February 2022, cutting power and heating to millions in temperatures as low as minus 20 deg C.

Zelensky said the US envoys – who held separate talks with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders – told him that “the Russians are ready to negotiate”.

“Russia really thinks that this winter can help them to break us,” he told Axios.

But the Trump administration could pressure Putin to de-escalate, he added, and the Russian leader “doesn’t want” to “upset” his US counterpart.

Zelensky said the weekend talks included US proposals around energy facilities, grain shipments and oil and gas exports, but declined to give further details.

During previous negotiations, Moscow and Kyiv had broadly stuck to their positions, with talks stalling in particular over the issue of territories in eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia. AFP