Zelenskyy says fresh Russian strikes show 'no change' in Kremlin position

Russia has fired missiles at Ukraine shortly after talks between US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Vladimir Putin. 

The move proves the Kremlin's position on the war had not changed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.  

The Kremlin had said it was willing to restart trilateral talks with Kyiv and Washington next month, though dismissed new ideas brought by Mr Witkoff as lacking substance.

Russia hit a dozen Ukrainian regions overnight, including Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding 34, Mr Zelenskyy said. 

Residential houses, energy sites, a shopping mall and a monastery had been damaged in Kyiv, where Russia has significantly intensified its strikes ahead of winter.

Mr Zelenskyy said the latest strikes began "almost immediately" after US President Donald Trump's envoy Mr Witkoff held hours-long talks with Mr Putin in Saint Petersburg.

Russia downs Ukrainian drones, Moscow says

Russia also said it had downed 808 Ukrainian drones fired overnight and that two people were wounded in Moscow.

Mr Witkoff faced widespread criticism for calling Mr Putin a "humanitarian" after Moscow released an elderly US citizen who had been jailed on charges of fighting for Ukraine as a "mercenary".

Mr Trump sought an optimistic tone as his envoy returned from Russia, saying that negotiators were "maybe now the closest we've been" to ending the war.

But in Kyiv and European capitals, hopes for a breakthrough were slim, with many worried the White House was siding with Moscow.

"Three waves of ballistic missiles have been launched at Kyiv by Russian 'humanitarians' since yesterday evening," Mr Zelenskyy said.

"Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack. This means there has been no real change in its attitude towards everything that is happening."

He called on allies to keep up "real pressure" on Moscow and for more air defence supplies.

Three-way talks to resume 

Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it hoped would be a swift attack to topple Mr Zelenskyy and seize land.

Instead it has become bogged down in Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. 

Hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions forced from their homes and much of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed.

Mr Zelenskyy had met with Mr Witkoff in Norway a day before the US-Russia talks in a meeting that came after days of spiralling Washington-Kyiv tensions.

In recent days, Mr Trump has blocked new sanctions on Russia, struck a deal to buy Russian diesel, and called for the Ukrainian leader to be replaced.

Mr Zelenskyy has backed resuming trilateral talks — several rounds of which over the last 18 months have failed to move the sides closer to a deal.

Russia is demanding Ukraine pull out of territory in the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls, and wants sweeping political and military restrictions on the size of its army and Western alliances.

Ukraine rejects the demands as tantamount to capitulation that would leave it exposed to a fresh attack.

The Kremlin said Mr Witkoff had briefed Mr Putin on "some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv" from the Oslo meeting, but that "there wasn't really much substance in them".

Moscow also said that a summit between Mr Trump, Mr Putin and China's Xi was being prepared in China for next month, with Europeans and Ukraine worrying a deal could be struck over their heads.