US President Donald Trump's negotiators on the Ukraine war have arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The Russian state news agency Tass reported that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner landed at Vnukovo airport. A date for the conversation in the Kremlin was not officially announced. Previous meetings with Putin usually took place late in the evening.
After a break, the USA is reactivating its attempts to mediate an end to the Russian war of aggression that has been going on for four and a half years. Witkoff and Kushner have been to Moscow several times. On Sunday they are also scheduled to visit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time.
Four people were killed in a Russian airstrike in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine ahead of a US mediation mission in the Ukraine war. The attack hit an industrial plant in the city of Kamianske, regional governor Olexander Hanscha said on Telegram. There were six injured. Steel producer Metinvest said production facilities and infrastructure were damaged and all operations were therefore stopped. “This is a new attack on a Metinvest civilian steel production facility and further evidence of Russia's systematic attacks on Ukrainian industry,” the company explains. The steelworks hit produced pig iron and steel exclusively for civilian purposes. The Russian military in Moscow spoke of an attack on a large metal combine that supplies the Ukrainian defense industry. Impacts by Russian drones were also reported in the Kyiv area during the night.
However, 59 Ukrainian drones were repelled over Russia during the night, as the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced. The comparatively low number suggests that Ukraine is, as announced, observing a ceasefire due to the visit of US mediators.
Shortly before the expected visit of US negotiators to Kiev, Russian armed forces shelled the capital's airports, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Zhuliany and Boryspil airports were demonstratively attacked for the first time in some time, he wrote on social networks.
Zelenskiy implied that Moscow wanted to spread uncertainty before the Americans arrived. “The Russian hits on the airports are a response to the discussions and preparations for the US side to come to Ukraine by plane and land at Kiev airport or Boryspil,” he wrote. Ukraine will plan its drone attacks to paralyze Russian air traffic next week accordingly, he threatened.
Five people have been killed in Ukrainian attacks in the Russian-controlled part of the Luhansk region of Ukraine in the past 24 hours. Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-appointed governor, said five more people were injured in the occupied territory.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has again negotiated a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia to allow repairs to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced that repair work would begin on Saturday after demining work had been carried out. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the Russian-occupied facility's cooling systems could be affected by a blackout within days, the IAEA warned on Platform X.
The two US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected in Kiev on Sunday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. US President Donald Trump confirmed this. Accordingly, the envoys will also travel to Moscow. In the Trump administration, the businessmen are responsible for efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
The Russian army attacked the main building of the Ukrainian secret service SBU in the center of the capital Kiev with a drone. “The drone aimed directly at the office of the head of the SBU in this building,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram. The head of state therefore instructed SBU boss Olexander Poklad to respond to the Russians in a “mirror image” to this blow. According to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, five people were injured.
An oil depot in the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi burns after a Ukrainian drone attack. The Russian authorities in the Krasnodar region announced this via the short message service Telegram.
According to authorities, at least four people were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian border region of Belgorod. Three others were injured, the acting governor of the western Russian region, Alexander Shuvayev, said on Telegram.
