Putin Said Yes to Trump's Peace Talks. That Night, Russia Fired 21 Ballistic Missiles at Kyiv.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about three hours in St. Petersburg and got the answer Washington wanted: Russia is "in principle, ready" to restart peace talks with Ukraine and the United States next month. That same night, Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, CNN and Reuters reported.

Ukraine hit back with one of the biggest drone attacks of the war. Russia's Defense Ministry said it shot down 808 Ukrainian drones overnight, and Moscow's mayor said 630 of them were headed for the Russian capital, AP reported. At least four people were killed in Ukraine and dozens were hurt, per AP.

Put simply: both sides said they want to talk, and then spent the night trying to prove who hurts more.

What hit Kyiv

The missiles came in three waves. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three of them carried cluster warheads, which burst in the air and scatter small bomblets over a wide area, Reuters reported. Ukraine's air force said none of the ballistic missiles aimed at Kyiv were shot down, as the country runs short of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors, CNN reported.

Zelensky listed the damage himself: "ordinary residential buildings, energy facilities, infrastructure at one of the railway stations and the metro, shopping malls, and businesses. Even a monastery is among the damaged sites," he wrote, as quoted by AP. He said two people were killed and 34 injured, including five children, across a dozen regions, per Reuters. A separate strike on a market in Lozova, in the Kharkiv region, killed at least two more shoppers, CNN reported.

Russia said its targets were drone and cruise-missile factories and storage sites, transport hubs in Kyiv, and port facilities in Odesa, AP reported.

What hit Russia

Russia counted the drones between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday Moscow time, over 17 regions plus Crimea and the Black Sea, according to TASS, Russia's state news agency. Moscow-area air defenses stopped 163 drones on their final approach to the capital. Two people were wounded outside Moscow, one in Lipetsk, and a man was killed in the border region of Belgorod, Reuters reported. Moscow's airports briefly restricted flights, per AP.

The deal Witkoff brought home

The St. Petersburg meeting did produce something real before the shooting started. Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired Michigan schoolteacher and Air Force veteran it had held for more than four years, and the U.S. gave up no one in return. unga.news covered the release here.

Witkoff thanked Putin by calling him a "humanitarian." Zelensky threw the word back at him in his post about the missiles. Vice President JD Vance backed the envoy when a BBC reporter asked about it. "I agree with Steve Witkoff saying something nice to a person who just released an American hostage," Vance said. "Steve Witkoff is a diplomat. His job is to go over there and get a job done. I care much less about what Steve said than about the fact that he is bringing an American hostage home to his family," the BBC reported.

Witkoff called his talks with both leaders "constructive" and wrote on X, "While there is still important work left to do, President Trump remains committed to seeing this war end and achieving a comprehensive, durable peace," per CNN. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, joined by video. "There is still hard work ahead, but we have a real opportunity to move beyond this war and build a framework for lasting peace, security, and prosperity for generations to come," he said, the BBC reported.

Trump said Wednesday, "The other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way, maybe now the closest we've been," the BBC reported.

Where the two sides stand

Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said the next round could happen around Nov. 10 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and that Moscow wants it to focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the end of the conflict," per the BBC. That date lands one week after America's Nov. 3 midterm elections. The last U.S.-mediated talks stalled in February, Reuters reported.

Ushakov was cool on the ideas Witkoff carried from his meeting with Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo the day before. "The Americans sensed some new nuances (in Oslo) and told us about this. But these nuances, so to speak, do not entirely satisfy us," he said, according to Reuters.

Russia's old demands haven't moved: all of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, much of which it already holds, a smaller Ukrainian army and a promise that Ukraine never joins NATO, CNN reported. Russia holds about 20% of Ukraine, per the BBC.

Zelensky, for his part, told Fox News on Wednesday he would accept a ceasefire that freezes the war along the current front line. "We call it 'ceasefire' or 'stop killings' like President Trump called it. Freeze and stop," he said, the BBC reported. On Thursday he posted:

What happens next

There was one small sign of good faith on Thursday. The two sides swapped the bodies of fallen soldiers, 252 sent to Ukraine and 25 to Russia, Reuters reported, citing Belarus's state news agency. Swaps like that have come before past rounds of talks.

The bigger test is whether Moscow actually shows up in Abu Dhabi. "Russia said many times it is ready for a meeting and then things changed and got canceled," Zelensky said Wednesday, per CNN. "Let's see what happens this time."

Trump has the attention of both capitals and an American home from a Russian prison to show for it. What Russia did with its yes on Wednesday night shows exactly where the pressure belongs: on Moscow.