Berliner Tageszeitung - Missiles strike Ukraine's capital after US envoy visits Russia

US President Donald Trump said after his envoy Steve Witkoff's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that it was "the closest we've been" to ending the war.

Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian" for freeing US citizen Stephen Hubbard, but the Kremlin warned after the meeting in Saint Petersburg that while Moscow was "in principle" willing to restart talks there was little "substance" in Ukrainian and European peace proposals the US diplomat had delivered.

Attacks did not let up overnight, with Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko posting on social media that missile strikes had wounded six people in the capital, four of whom needed hospitalisation.

Ukraine's Airforce posted a warning in the early hours of "more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv" and instructed residents to stay in shelters.

Russian authorities also said they had intercepted drones during the night, including more than 160 flying towards Moscow.

Witkoff had flown to Russia from a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, which was aimed at smoothing over a bitter rift between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner also took part in the talks with Putin remotely.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Russia was "in principle, ready to resume" trilateral talks in mid-November -- after crucial US midterm elections -- and that the Kremlin wanted them to focus on post-war security.

Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.

- 'Work left to do' -

Ushakov said Witkoff briefed Putin on "some new aspects in the approaches of the Europeans and Kyiv" from the Oslo meeting, adding though that "there wasn't really much substance in them".

A summit between Putin, Trump and China's Xi Jinping was also being prepared in China's Shenzhen for next month, Ushakov said, calling it "the first such meeting in history."

During their three-hour meeting, Witkoff praised Putin for granting Trump's request to free Hubbard, a retired English teacher in his 70s who had always denied the charges he was a "mercenary" fighting for Ukraine.

"You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian -- you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that," Witkoff said.

Witkoff said on social media that the talks with Putin were "constructive" but that "there is still important work left to do". Discussions would continue between the US, Ukraine and Russia at the technical level, he added.

Trump returned to power in January 2025 promising to end the war in 24 hours -- but more than a year of US-led talks have failed to produce a breakthrough, with tens of thousands killed.

In recent days, a frustrated Trump has once again pivoted away from Ukraine and back to Putin, trumpeting what he said was a deal for Russia to sell diesel and reduce prices sent soaring by his Iran war.

Trump also delayed the imposition of sanctions on Russia's war machine -- a decision he defended on Wednesday as necessary to secure Hubbard's release.

"If you would've put those sanctions on... you could forget about him. You'd never see him again," Trump told reporters at the White House.

- Russian strikes kill four -

In Ukraine, Zelensky said that Kyiv also backed resuming trilateral talks.

"The American side is proposing to organize this meeting as soon as possible. We are in favour of it," he told journalists.

Witkoff's ninth meeting with Putin came as Russia continued to strike Ukrainian cities ahead of winter.

Kyiv said Russian attacks killed at least four people on Wednesday -- including two in the capital and an elderly couple in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Russian occupation authorities in the Lugansk region, meanwhile, said a Ukrainian drone strike on a phone company had killed two people.

The Witkoff-Zelensky meeting on Tuesday followed days of friction between Washington and Kyiv, and calls from Trump for the Ukrainian leader to be replaced.

Witkoff told Putin he saw "some degree of momentum" in the US-led talks.

The US envoy also told Putin that Washington was "grateful" for the diesel deal, which sparked outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.

The deal has been seen as a way to try to lower fuel prices for American consumers ahead of the US midterms, in which Trump's Republicans could lose control of Congress.

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F. Burkhard--BTZ