According to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services, Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on Ukraine overnight, resulting in at least seven deaths. The attack included strikes on the capital, Kyiv, and occurred as Saudi Arabia is about to host ceasefire talks. Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold indirect talks in Saudi Arabia, mediated by the United States, to discuss a suspension of long-range attacks on energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.
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03-26, 2025Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia the day before the indirect talks. Ukraine plans to send a technical team to discuss the details of a partial ceasefire. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for Trump, said in an interview with Fox News that he expects "some real progress" to be made in the talks in Saudi Arabia, "especially in terms of a ceasefire affecting Black Sea vessels of both countries, from which you would naturally move towards a full shooting ceasefire."
When asked about concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might set his sights beyond Ukraine, and even further invade Europe after Russia now gains territory within Ukraine, Witkoff said he had been asked about his view on Putin's grander motivations. "I just said I don't think he wants to occupy all of Europe," he said. "This is very different than World War II. There was no NATO in World War II. There are armed countries there now."
"In that sense, I believe what he says. I think Europeans are starting to believe that too. But it doesn't matter, it's just an academic question. The agenda now is to stop the killing, stop the slaughter, let's end this war." When asked if he believed Putin wanted peace, Witkoff said, "I sense he wants peace."
The Ukrainian Air Force stated that Russia launched 147 drones at Ukraine overnight. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 97 of them, and another 25 failed to reach their targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures. The attacks struck the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Donetsk regions, as well as the capital, Kyiv. The Kyiv City Military Administration said that three people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and ten others were injured in the drone attack on Kyiv. Prolonged explosions were heard throughout the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of the morning, and air raid alerts lasted for more than five hours. Russian drones and debris from downed drones, flying at low altitudes to evade air defenses, fell on residential buildings. Kyiv residents surveyed the damage to their homes and communities yesterday morning.
Many expressed disdain for the upcoming ceasefire talks, pointing to the destroyed and burned-out houses in the drone attacks, saying these were more indicative of Russia's true intentions. In an old multi-story building on the left bank of Kyiv that was damaged in the night attack, 37-year-old Dmytro Zapadnya said he did not believe Russia would abide by any ceasefire agreement. "There's no point in signing anything with the Russians, because it's not worth the cost of the paper you sign it on. Well, the only thing that's less pleasant is that it seems the United States doesn't quite understand our situation now," he said.
Elsewhere, Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Ukraine's Donetsk region, said that Russian attacks on the Donetsk region of Ukraine killed four people, including three who died in an attack on the frontline town of Dobropillia. Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media that attacks like the one on Kyiv are a daily occurrence for Ukraine. "This week alone, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, nearly 1,100 attack drones and 15 missiles of various types have been used to strike our people," he said. "New solutions are needed, new pressure on Moscow to stop these attacks and this war."
The Russian Defense Ministry also said yesterday that it shot down 59 Ukrainian drones, including 29 over the Rostov region and 20 over Astrakhan in the southwest. According to Yuri Slyusar, the acting governor of the region, one person died and a car caught fire in Rostov as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack. A woman was also killed in the Russian border village of Novostroyevka-Pervaya in the Belgorod region when a Ukrainian drone hit a car she was traveling in. The woman's daughter, who was driving, was also seriously injured in the attack, according to local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
