KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hours before U.S. and Ukrainian envoys held more talks in Geneva on ending the war that is now in its fifth year.
The bombardment, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted critical infrastructure and residential areas across eight regions of Ukraine, Zelensky said. Dozens of people, including children, were injured, officials said, though authorities did not immediately publish a confirmed total.
Zelensky said late Wednesday he had spoken by phone with President Trump and thanked him for his “efforts and engagement” in pursuing peace negotiations.
The U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv are continuing but are deadlocked on the issue of Ukrainian territory that Russia claims as its own.
Zelensky has pushed for a summit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, saying a face-to-face meeting could be decisive in unlocking an agreement, but the Kremlin has rebuffed that proposal beyond inviting the Ukrainian president to Moscow, which Zelensky refused.
Witkoff and Kushner attend talks
Trump representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were also discussing nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva before turning to the war in Europe, met with Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. They also joined Trump’s call with Zelensky.
The envoys were to discuss economic support and the recovery of Ukraine, ways of attracting investment to the country and frameworks for long-term cooperation, Umerov said on X.
Also, the meeting would look at preparations for the next round of trilateral negotiations involving Russia and consider possible further exchanges of prisoners, according to Umerov.
Washington is looking to keep momentum in its yearlong push to stop the fighting and overcome deep enmity between the warring countries.
Ukrainian and European officials have accused Putin of feigning interest in peace negotiations, hoping to avoid punitive U.S. measures such as additional sanctions while pressing forward with the invasion.
Ukrainians skeptical about peace
On the streets of Kyiv, people expressed some skepticism about the negotiations and how far Ukrainian concessions should go in return for a peace deal.
“Of course we want peace, we really want it,” said Vitalina Yefimenko, 55, who lives in the southern Ukraine city of Mykolaiv, voicing concern that Russia would invade again in the future.
“But I think that even if something is given up, we will be next — the south. It’s very frightening. Should I leave for another country? I don’t want to,” she said.
Kyiv resident Roman Cheremisienov, 56, said he didn’t trust the Trump administration’s motives, alleging that “current U.S. policy is aimed not so much at achieving peace in Ukraine as at business interests” close to the American president.
Dariia Kuzmenko, a 33-year-old psychology consultant, said Ukraine must hold its nerve because Russia’s economy is suffering under international sanctions over its invasion.
“We need to keep up the pressure, keep defending our position, and our politicians must not give up or be afraid,” Kuzmenko said.
Russia and Ukraine exchange fallen soldiers
Russia returned 1,000 bodies of fallen soldiers to Ukraine, and got back 35 bodies of its fallen troops, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation at previous talks with Ukraine, said Thursday. He did not say when the exchange happened.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War later confirmed the return, though it referred to “bodies which, according to preliminary information provided by the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian defenders.”
Russia struck gas infrastructure in the Poltava region and electrical substations in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Zelensky said. Emergency crews responded in five other regions, as well as in the capital.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down most of the Russian missiles, Zelensky said, crediting Western partners for timely delivery of additional air defense interceptors. Ukraine needs foreign help to sustain its fight against Russia’s bigger forces.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged allied countries to provide more military aid.
“When the whole world demands Moscow to finally stop this senseless war, Putin bets on more terror, attacks and aggression,” Sybiha said in a post on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 17 Ukrainian drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, as well as the Black and Azov Seas.
Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones have struck oil refineries, fuel depots and military logistics hubs deep inside Russia.
Russia repeats atomic bomb claims
Meanwhile, Russia continued to push allegations of a purported plot by European nations to provide Kyiv with a nuclear bomb, without providing any evidence.
The Kremlin-controlled lower house of the Russian parliament on Thursday unanimously approved an address urging the United Nations and European lawmakers to prevent the alleged plan.
It followed a statement by the Russian foreign intelligence service on Tuesday alleging that France and the U.K. were planning to covertly transfer nuclear weapons or components of a “dirty bomb” device.
British and French officials said the claim was a lie.
Novikov writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Kamila Hrabchuk and Dan Bashakov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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