Russia and Ukraine trade strikes after Witkoff meets Putin as Trump sees peace closer

Overnight strikes on Kyiv

Russian forces fired ballistic missiles and drones at Ukraine during the night into Thursday, 22 October, and the capital took the heaviest blows. Kyiv's prosecutor's office reported at least one person killed and 34 wounded, while Ukraine's national emergency service put the toll at one dead and 22 injured, including four children. A separate city count from Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the wounded at 15, eight of them needing hospital care. Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the strikes damaged residential buildings, energy infrastructure, a railway station, the metro and shopping centres, and that a monastery was among the damaged sites. Ukrainian forces said they shot down 181 of 210 Russian drones but none of the ballistic missiles.

Zelenskyy described the missile attack in these words:

“Russian 'humanitarians' have launched three waves of ballistic missile strikes against Kyiv, using a total of 21.”

Casualties on both sides

In the Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported that a Russian strike killed a woman and injured four other people. A drone hit energy infrastructure in the Poltava region near Kremenchuk, local authorities said, without giving details. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 Ukrainian drones were sent toward the region overnight, 163 of them toward the capital, and that two people were wounded there. Russia's defence ministry said it had shot down 808 Ukrainian drones over 17 regions, including occupied territories. Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement sent to POLITICO that Russian forces suffered 2,250 killed and wounded in 24 hours, the largest daily total since 2022.

Witkoff's talks and the Kremlin response

Witkoff met Putin at Constantine Palace in St Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October, after meeting Zelenskyy in Oslo the previous Tuesday. During the visit Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen and retired English teacher in his 70s who had been detained since 2022 and has always denied charges that he was a mercenary fighting for Ukraine. Witkoff praised Putin as a 'humanitarian' for the release, a word Vice President JD Vance later suggested was tied to it. Trump said shortly after the talks:

“We're getting close to ending the war. We may be closer now than ever before.”

Trump had also delayed a new wave of Russia-related sanctions, which he defended as necessary to secure Hubbard's release. He touted a deal that would let sanctioned Russia sell diesel, a move that sparked outrage in Kyiv and across Europe.

Next steps

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia was 'in principle' ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States in mid-November, after the US midterm elections. He said the Kremlin wanted those talks to focus on post-war security. Ushakov also said Witkoff had briefed Putin on new aspects of European and Kyiv approaches from the Oslo meeting, adding that they lacked real substance. A summit between Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is being prepared in Shenzhen for next month, which Ushakov called the first such meeting in history. Witkoff described his talks with Putin as constructive on social media but said important work remained. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Thursday that 'appeasement' would not end the war.