Russia pounds Ukraine's capital Kyiv with missiles and drones, hours after agreeing to peace talks

Russia pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles and Ukraine sent hundreds of drones towards Moscow overnight as the warring sides kept up a barrage of attacks despite the latest U.S. push to end ‌the conflict.

Ukraine president Zelenksyy says 2 people killed in latest attacks

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Oct 22, 2026 7:39 AM EDT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago

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Russia pounded Kyiv with ballistic missiles and Ukraine sent hundreds of drones towards Moscow overnight as the warring sides kept up a barrage of attacks despite the latest U.S. push to end ‌the conflict.

Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to resume U.S.-mediated talks with Ukraine next month, after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff for talks in St. Petersburg.

But in describing the latest attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a sarcastic reference to Witkoff, who described Putin as a "humanitarian" after American Stephen Hubbard, serving a prison sentence in Russia, was freed to be repatriated to the U.S.

"Three waves of ballistic missiles have been launched at Kyiv by Russian 'humanitarians' since yesterday evening," Zelenskyy posted on X. "They used 21 missiles. Unfortunately, numerous sites across the city have ⁠been hit and damaged."

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Zelenskyy said two people were killed and 34 injured, including five children, in attacks on a dozen Ukrainian regions.

Ukraine said Russia fired at least 21 ballistic missiles in three waves. Russia said Ukraine launched 630 drones towards the capital Moscow during the night.

The two sides also held an exchange of war dead, with Moscow handing ​over 252 bodies and Ukraine handing over 25, according to the Belta state news agency in neighbouring ​Belarus. Such exchanges have accompanied moves towards talks in the past.

The Russian attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said. (Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press)

At least 1 killed in Russia

Russia said it carried out a "massive strike" overnight ⁠on port infrastructure in ⁠Ukraine's Odesa region, as well as on vessels used by the Ukrainian ​military.

In Russia, two people were wounded near Moscow by drones launched towards the capital during the night, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. Most of the drones were downed at long range, he ​added.

In the Russian border region of Belgorod, one man ⁠was killed and another wounded by Ukrainian drones, local officials said.

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With the frontlines of the war largely static, both sides have escalated long-range air strikes this year. Russia has particularly targeted the Ukrainian power grid, while Ukraine has aimed at Russian oil refineries. Both have struck data centres, commercial warehouses and Black Sea shipping.

Russia says it launched the war, the deadliest in Europe since the Second World War, in part to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. It has repeatedly said it would not end fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, limits the size of its forces and is permanently barred from forming ⁠alliances.

Ukraine, which says the invasion was an unprovoked war of conquest, has long dismissed Russia's conditions to end the war — including to cede all of the Donbas region — as a demand for capitulation that would leave it defenceless against future Russian attacks.

No breakthrough emerged from three short meetings in Istanbul last year and three rounds of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi and Geneva at the start of ⁠this year.

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Zelenskyy also met with Witkoff, earlier in the week in Oslo. While Witkoff spoke of "some degree of momentum" after meeting the Ukraine leader and European and NATO officials in Norway, the Kremlin expressed doubts.

"The Americans sensed some new nuances [in Oslo] and told us about this. But these nuances, so ​to speak, do not entirely satisfy us," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Zelenskyy's meeting with Witkoff was aimed in part at smoothing over a deterioration in relations with Washington this month, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel and lifted ‌sanctions on Moscow.

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Kyiv has also said beginning on Oct. 4 Washington failed to provide early-warning data on Russian missile launches, throttled the SpaceX satellite system used to guide Ukrainian drones, and withheld missile defence systems bought on its behalf by Europeans.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have offered conflicting explanations for the disruption. But Ukrainian and European officials said they suspected a political motive because the move came after Trump demanded Ukraine stop hitting Russian oil refineries.

Trump's admonitions to Ukraine have not been duplicated with respect to far deadlier Russian attacks on Ukraine. Trump on Monday said Russia's actions in Ukraine have been "fine."

Zelenskyy, who long avoided any criticism of ​the Trump administration, has increasingly pushed back against what he describes as a shift towards sympathy with Moscow.