Kyiv rebukes Witkoff's praise for Putin

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sibiga, condemned on Thursday, 22 October, remarks by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who the previous day had described Vladimir Putin as humanitarian while thanking him for freeing an American citizen held by Russian forces in Ukraine. RTVE reported that the freed man had been held in Russia for four years. Sibiga replied on X, writing that appeasement, servility and flattery would not stop the war and that only force would. He added that residents of Kyiv had heard during the night how Russian 'humanism' really sounds, a remark aimed at the strikes on the capital. Witkoff had travelled to Russia after meeting Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on Tuesday, 20 October, a round of talks meant to ease a bitter dispute between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian leader. He met Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October.

Overnight strikes across Ukraine

Sibiga said Russia used dozens of ballistic missiles against energy infrastructure, medical facilities, shopping centres and residential areas, and that other Ukrainian cities were also attacked early on Thursday. In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported at least 15 people injured, eight of them taken to hospital, with two minors among the wounded. EL PAÍS, writing in the morning, reported one dead in the capital's Dniprovskyi district, a death that EL MUNDO's regional tally does not list. Damage in the capital included a metro station on the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro, an ambulance company where six vehicles were damaged, and a shopping centre and a restaurant. EL MUNDO tallied seven people killed across Ukraine, one man in Sumy, one woman in Kharkiv, three people in Zaporizhzhia and two in Donetsk, according to regional administrations and police. Russia's defence ministry said its forces hit port infrastructure in the Odesa region and several boats used by the Ukrainian army, while RTVE reported that energy infrastructure in Kremenchuk, Poltava region, was struck.

Sumy1

Kharkiv1

Zaporizhzhia3

Donetsk2

Sumy

1 deaths

Kharkiv

1 deaths

Zaporizhzhia

3 deaths

Donetsk

2 deaths

Data from the article text

Ukrainian drones and Moscow

Ukraine also launched drone attacks into Russia and occupied territory. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobianin, said at least 630 drones were launched at the region, 163 of them toward the capital, and that most were destroyed well short of their targets. Two people were injured in Moscow. Regional authorities in Tula said 70 drones were shot down there. In Lipetsk, about 400 kilometres south of Moscow, the regional governor said one man was injured and drones hit an apartment building and a medical centre. RTVE also reported that a worker at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant died in a Ukrainian drone attack.

Diplomacy and the November talks

Trump said he had never been so close to ending the conflict. Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters Russia was in principle ready to resume trilateral talks in mid-November, after the US midterm elections. Jared Kushner took part in the talks with Putin remotely. After flying back from Norway late on Wednesday, Zelensky proposed a ceasefire that would freeze current front lines, plus a trilateral leaders' meeting with Trump and Putin in which European partners would take part in some form. RTVE reported that Putin was willing to hold a trilateral summit with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. EL MUNDO noted that Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion and has consistently refused face-to-face talks with Zelensky.