Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces hit apartments in Kyiv with overnight drone attack, officials say – UK Times

The Russian president has figured out a way to get Trump’s attention and distract him to such effect it delivers what Russia really wants. By reducing Ukraine to business deals and minerals, there is something much deeper and darker going on, writes Owen Matthews.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that he had met top military commanders in the country’s northeast to discuss the frontline in Ukraine’s war with Russia, as well as meetings with US officials set to take place in Saudi Arabia today.

Mr Zelensky was shown on the media platform X with commanders in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russian attacks.

He said he had discussed frontline sectors in eastern Ukraine, as well as in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops remain seven months after a cross-border incursion.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region

“We also prepared for the meeting between the Ukrainian and American delegations, that will take place tomorrow in Saudi Arabia,” the president wrote.

In Washington, a source familiar with the planning of the meetings in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian and Russian officials said the US delegation would be led by Andrew Peek from the National Security Council and Michael Anton from the State Department.

The group will meet the Ukrainians on Sunday night and the Russians on Monday.

Russia launched 147 drones overnight targeting several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

Ukrainian air defence units destroyed 97 of the drones, while 25 did not reach their targets, the air force said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defence units destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning.

Twenty-nine of the drones were destroyed over the southern region of Rostov, 20 over the Astrakhan region and the rest over the Voronezh, Volgograd, Kursk and Saratov regions, as well as over Crimea, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The attack comes as three Ukrainians are killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials will meet a US technical team in Riyadh on 23 March, a day before the US is set to hold separate discussions with Ukrainian and Russian delegations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the meeting, clarifying an earlier announcement in which he had stated that US-Ukraine talks would take place on 24 March.

The Ukrainian delegation will be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov and Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the President’s Office, according to an undisclosed Ukrainian source cited by Sky News. Both officials were also present at US-Ukraine discussions in Jeddah earlier this month.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine is dispatching “technical teams” to outline the specifics of a possible partial ceasefire with Russia. However, Kyiv has stressed that there will be no direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Riyadh

Death toll in Russian drone attack on Kyiv has risen to three, with a five-year-old among those killed, Ukraine’s internal ministry said.

“A massive enemy drone attack on Kyiv,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on the Telegram messaging app.

The scale of the overnight attack was not immediately clear. Reuters witnesses heard several blasts in what sounded like air defence systems in operation.

The state emergency service posted photos showing firefighters fighting blazes at night, including high in an apartment building.

A woman died after drone debris sparked a fire in a high-rise residential building in Dniprovskyi district, the emergency service said on Telegram, while at least 27 people were evacuated from the building.

Another person died in the Holosiivskyi district, the service said.

China is considering joining a European-led peacekeeping coalition aimed at securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, according to German media outlet Die Welt, which cited unnamed diplomatic sources.

While Beijing has maintained an official stance of neutrality in Russia’s war against Ukraine, it has remained a key ally of Moscow throughout the full-scale invasion.

European officials believe that China’s involvement could increase Russia’s willingness to accept a peacekeeping presence in Ukraine.

“The inclusion of China in a ‘coalition of the willing’ could potentially increase Russia’s acceptance of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine,” an unnamed EU diplomat told Die Welt, calling the situation “delicate”.

Chinese diplomats are reportedly assessing how receptive European leaders would be to Beijing’s participation.

The “coalition of the willing,” led by UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron, is a group of allied nations working to establish security guarantees for Ukraine.

The initiative could involve deploying troops to bolster Ukraine’s military if a ceasefire is reached. However, Moscow has repeatedly rejected the presence of European or Nato forces in Ukraine.

European leaders, including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, are scheduled to meet in Paris on 27 March to further discuss security arrangements and a potential peace plan.

No official details have been released regarding China’s possible role in the process.

Earlier this month, Chinese officials indicated Beijing’s interest in participating in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction efforts.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for an attack on a gas metering station in Russia’s Kursk region, just metres from the border between the two countries.

The strike on the facility in Sudzha occurred days after the United States proposed a pause in attacks on energy infrastructure. Moscow has accused Kyiv of deliberately targeting the site, which has been under Ukrainian control since its forces launched an incursion into Kursk in August 2024.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed Ukrainian troops blew up the station while “retreating from the Kursk region” in an alleged attempt to “discredit the US president’s peace initiatives”.

On Saturday, Russia’s foreign ministry warned that it “reserves the right to respond, including with a symmetrical response” to what it described as Ukrainian strikes on its energy facilities.

Kyiv dismissed the allegations as “groundless”, insisting that Moscow was trying to mislead the international community.

Ukraine’s General Staff countered the claims, stating in a Telegram post that “the station has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves”.

Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has cast doubt on Ukraine’s ability to secure a ceasefire on its terms while reiterating key Kremlin narratives about the war.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on 21 March, Mr Witkoff described the territorial dispute in Ukraine as the “largest issue” in the conflict, referring to Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea—regions either partially or fully occupied by Russia.

He claimed these areas were “Russian-speaking” and that “referendums” had shown an overwhelming desire to be under Russian rule, failing to acknowledge that these votes were held under coercion.

He suggested that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky faced a political dilemma over international recognition of Russian-occupied territories.

“Can Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict,” he said.

Mr Witkoff also asserted that Ukraine had “largely conceded that they are not going to be a member of Nato” but indicated discussions were ongoing about possible security guarantees from the United States and European nations.

Downplaying Moscow’s broader ambitions, he insisted Russia had no desire to expand the war or “absorb Ukraine” beyond its current occupied territories. “(Russia’s) reclaimed these five regions.

They have Crimea, and they’ve gotten what they want. So why do they need more?” he said, omitting Russia’s past denials before launching its full-scale invasion.

He further defended Mr Trump’s approach to peace talks, saying the former US president was focused on restoring relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Who doesn’t want to have a world where Russia and the United States are doing collaboratively good things together?” he asked, citing potential cooperation in energy and artificial intelligence.

Mr Witkoff framed the war as a complex issue, arguing, “It’s never just one person,” while sidestepping Russia’s responsibility for the invasion.