Russia Resumes Kyiv Strikes After US Envoys Leave — SkimNews
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- Russia resumed strikes on Kyiv and across Ukraine early Tuesday, hours after Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff departed the capital following meetings with President Zelensky aimed at restarting peace negotiations.
- The Ukrainian military downed 175 aerial targets but ballistic missiles still struck homes in Kyiv, a market in Odesa, and a train in the Sumy region, killing two civilians and wounding at least 19 people.
- Fires broke out in 14 high-rise buildings, a dormitory, a school, a clinic, and warehouses across Kyiv after the overnight bombardment, according to Ukrainian officials cited by Reuters.
- Both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a three-day ceasefire to permit the envoys' travel, and the trip marked Kushner and Witkoff's first visit to the Ukrainian capital after Witkoff's at least eight prior trips to Moscow.
- Katarina Mathernova, the EU's ambassador to Ukraine, posted on X: "The russians bombed us all night. Kyiv was exploding and burning. We were all hiding in shelters."
- Kushner said the envoys presented "new ideas" to end the more than four-and-a-half-year war but offered no public details, adding that they remain in near-daily contact with Ukrainian officials.
Why it matters: Russia halted strikes just long enough for Trump's envoys to meet Zelensky in person, then resumed bombardment within hours of their departure — a pattern that shows Moscow willing to choreograph violence around US diplomacy while extracting no visible concession. Two civilians were killed and at least 19 wounded in Kyiv alone, and the "new ideas" Kushner mentioned remain undisclosed, meaning the diplomatic channel is producing headlines but no disclosed terms after more than four years of war.
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