Russian Drone Attack Kills 3 in Kyiv Ahead of Cease-Fire Talks

At least three people were killed during a large Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s capital overnight, local officials said on Sunday, hours before U.S.-mediated talks to discuss a partial cease-fire began in Saudi Arabia.

Multiple explosions shook the capital, Kyiv, overnight as air defense units fired at incoming drones. The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia had launched nearly 150 drones across the country, and that it had shot down approximately 100. The assertion could not be independently verified.

On Sunday morning, the local authorities in Kyiv said that some drones and debris from others that were shot down had fallen on several buildings in the city, sparking fires. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that three people were killed: a father and his 5-year-old daughter, as well as an 80-year-old woman. At least 10 people were injured.

The toll was unusually high for Kyiv, which is one of Ukraine’s best defended cities. In recent months, Russia has intensified attacks on the capital, aiming to overwhelm its air defenses with waves of drones. Once a rarity, the buzz of attack drones flying over buildings can now be heard frequently in the center of the city, home to the presidential palace and Parliament.

The overnight attack on Kyiv came a day after officials said a mother, a father and their 17-year-old daughter had been killed in a Russian drone attack in Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine.

“Russia is not stopping the fire, Putin wants to keep killing civilians, it must be stopped,” Andrii Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, wrote Sunday morning on social media.

The talks in Saudi Arabia will focus on halting attacks on energy facilities, such as power plants and substations, as well as ensuring shipping safety in the Black Sea.

U.S. representatives will mediate between the two sides, who are not expected to meet directly. “The agenda includes proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure,” Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defense minister leading his country’s delegation, said late Sunday afternoon in announcing that the meeting with U.S. mediators had begun. It will be followed by Russia-U.S. talks on Monday.

A Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said the Ukrainian delegation might hold additional discussions with U.S. officials on Monday, depending on progress.

Unlike previous cease-fire discussions, which involved top government officials from all sides, this new round will focus on the technical aspects of implementing the partial truce and will primarily involve diplomats and advisers. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said his country had prepared a list of infrastructure objects that could be covered by the cease-fire.

Strikes on energy facilities have been central to each side’s efforts to weaken the other throughout the war. Russia has pounded Ukraine’s power grid, aiming to make life unbearable for civilians and hinder the country’s war effort, while Ukraine has struck Russian oil facilities to try to choke off revenues fueling Moscow’s military operations.

Both nations rely on the Black Sea for commodity exports. In mid-2022, they brokered a deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain, only for Russia to withdraw a year later. Since then, fighting over control of the sea has persisted. Ukraine has managed to drive Russian warships out of its waters and establish a secure shipping corridor to global markets.