Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes as US envoy leaves after talks

Both sides continue to launch a barrage of attacks despite latest US mediation attempts to end war

Missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, a Reuters witness said, and Ukraine sent hundreds of ​drones towards Moscow overnight, as the two sides kept up a barrage of ‌attacks despite the latest US mediation attempts to end the war.

The Russian strikes wounded 15 people and damaged subway infrastructure on the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro River in the Ukrainian capital while also restricting traffic there, ​Kyiv authorities said. The strikes followed another attack on the city a day earlier that ​wounded six people.

A Russian strike killed a woman and injured another four people ⁠in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine's northeast, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.

A drone ​also hit energy infrastructure in the Kremenchuk area in the Poltava region, a local official said on ​Telegram, without giving details.

Read: Trump holds off on new measures against Russia to avoid undermining Ukraine peace talks

Located on the Dnipro River, Kremenchuk is a major industrial hub and home to one of Ukraine's biggest oil refineries. The area has been repeatedly hit by Russian strikes, including a 2022 attack ​on a crowded shopping mall that killed at least 21 people.

In Russia, two people were wounded ​near Moscow after 630 drones were sent towards the capital during the night, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram. ‌Most ⁠of the drones were downed at long range, he added.

In the city of Lipetsk - home to a major steel plant some 400 km (250 miles) south of Moscow - a man was injured as drones hit apartment buildings and a medical facility, Governor Igor Artamonov said on the Telegram app.

Russia ​invaded Ukraine in 2022 ​after annexing the ⁠Crimea peninsula from its southern neighbour eight years earlier, locking the two nations into the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War ​Two.

Read more: Putin agrees to resume US-mediated Ukraine talks

The latest strikes come after US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff held talks this ​week with ⁠Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia's President Vladimir Putin to mediate an end to the conflict.

Zelenskiy said yesterday that Ukraine supported a US proposal for three-way talks with Russia and the United States ⁠at the ​level of negotiators to be held as soon as ​possible, and the Kremlin said Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Kyiv as soon as next month.