Trump Envoys Confronted in Kyiv Over Talks with Putin; Ukraine Reports Record Air Raid Alerts

Donald Trump’s peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been confronted over their talks with “war criminal” Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In a news conference in Kyiv alongside Volodymry Zelensky on Sunday, Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon asked whether Putin was deceiving the US president.

“You have met with President Putin very often. Does it seem to you that Putin has been deceiving you all this time?,” he added according to the Kyiv Post.

“And finally, don’t you find it disgusting to sit at the same table with an international war criminal, the executioner of the Ukrainian people, who is personally responsible for the tragedy in Ukraine?” he added.

Zelensky held talks with Witkoff and Kushner on Sunday, after their three-hour talks with Putin in Moscow on Saturday. He lauded their “very substantive” conversation and said Ukraine was ready for trilateral talks involving Russia, the US and Ukraine.

The US president is expected to speak to Putin and Zelensky over the phone on Monday.

Meanwhile, Kyiv’s air raid alerts have reached their highest level since the war began in February 2022, as Russia ramps up its targeting of the Ukrainian capital, according to an analysis of government figures by BBC Verify.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region was struck by Ukrainian drones in a fresh long-range attack.

“Our warriors continue responding justly to Russian strikes on Ukraine. An oil refinery was hit in the Ryazan region,” the Ukrainian president said, sharing footage which he said was of the strike.

“Our long-range capabilities were used against oil-processing facilities in the Perm region and Tatarstan, and against a site used to store and launch attack drones in the Kursk region,” he added.

“A target was also hit in the Black Sea. I thank every one of our units for their precision!”

Air raid alerts in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv are at their highest levels of the war so far, as Russia ramps up attacks on the Ukrainian capital, according to a report.

Moscow’s new strategy of increasing daytime attacks on the city has forced it to drive up the frequency of its daily air raid alerts, BBC Verify reported in an analysis of Ukrainian government figures.

Residents have been forced to head to the shelters as often as 13 times a day, the analysis said.

An industrial facility sustained minor damage in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Tatarstan region on the Volga river, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing the regional governor's press service.

The news agency has not identified the facility or specified its location.

At least 11 people have been killed and six others injured after an avalanche in Russia.

The avalanche hit a group of climbers in the Kabardino-Balkaria region in the North Caucasus on Sunday.

It swept down Mount Mizhirgi, one of the area’s highest peaks, around 5pm local time (2pm GMT), hitting a group of 33 climbers, emergency services said.

Ten climbers had made their own way down the mountain as of 9am local time on Monday.

Russian forces have attacked Ukraine with 92 drones overnight into Monday, the Ukrainian air force has said in its daily update.

Kyiv’s air force shot down or jammed 71 of the drones, while 12 locations were struck, it said.

Aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, and electronic warfare was used to down the drones, the force said in the Telegram update.

As of 7am BST it said the attack was ongoing.

Donald Trump is set to hold phone calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, according to a report.

The US president will first speak with the Russian president before speaking to Mr Zelensky, after he is briefed by his envoys on their latest talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, a report in The Kyiv Independent said.

The US envoys arrived in Kyiv by train on 6 September where they were met by Mr Zelensky at Sofiiska Square, before they engaged in negotiations.

North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge on Monday, Russia's TASS state news agency reported.

The structure spans the Tumen river and is located near the “Friendship Bridge”, a rail bridge commissioned in 1959 after the Korean war.

There are already direct air and rail links between Moscow and Pyongyang, who have described the new bridge as yet another milestone in their growing strategic partnership.

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin said the bridge should spur development between the two countries in various spheres - including tourism - and create new jobs.

"I am convinced that the expansion of cross-border transport infrastructure will provide a powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation," TASS cited Mishustin as saying at the bridge's opening ceremony via video link.

Construction of the new bridge, which had been under discussion for years, began in April last year after its construction was agreed during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to North Korea in 2024.

The two countries' ties have grown stronger since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk region to help repel a 2024 Ukrainian incursion there.

One person was killed and another injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local authorities said this morning.