The United States has confirmed that its officials will meet Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi as part of efforts to end the Ukraine war, after a night in which Russia and Ukraine exchanged airstrikes.
kyiv officials said at least six people had been killed in Russian attacks on the city, while Russian officials said at least three had been killed in a Ukrainian attack in the Rostov region.
The latest attacks come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed proposed changes to the controversial 28-point US peace plan.
On Sunday, American and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva to discuss the draft plan, which had been criticized by leaders in kyiv and Europe for being too favorable to Russia.
It appears that Ukraine’s European allies produced an amended version of the plan after rejecting parts that favored Russia’s war goals.
“Now the list of steps necessary to end the war may be feasible,” Zelensky said Monday. “Many correct elements have been incorporated into this framework.”
Ukraine’s national security chief Rustem Umerov said kyiv was “hoping” to arrange Zelensky’s visit to the United States “at the earliest suitable date in November” to reach a deal with US President Donald Trump.
A Kremlin official rejected the amendments as “completely unconstructive.” However, a US official told the BBC on Tuesday that his team would meet with Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi to further discuss the plan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who will not attend the meeting, said the Kremlin had not yet received the “provisional” version of the revised plan, adding that Moscow’s view was that it should reflect the “spirit and letter” of the Alaska talks between Trump and President Vladimir Putin in August.
Separately, a virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting of Ukraine’s European allies will also be held on Tuesday to discuss the developments, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said.
EPAThe latest round of talks came as Russia and Ukraine traded late-night attacks.
The head of kyiv’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said a fire had broken out in a high-rise residential apartment building in the Dniprovskyi district, forcing the evacuation of its residents.
Emergency services at the scene said 18 people had been rescued, including three children, and that the search for victims was continuing once the fire was under control.
Residents of a high-rise apartment in the city’s central Pechersk district were also evacuated after it was set on fire during the attacks, according to kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
He added that the building suffered damage to the upper floors, but the fire was extinguished.
Ukrainian air defense units responded to the attack as explosions were heard across kyiv and residents were urged to take shelter in underground car parks and bunkers.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry also confirmed a “massive combined enemy attack” against the country’s energy infrastructure facilities.
According to Zelensky, 22 missiles and more than 460 drones were launched against Ukraine overnight.
NATO sent four aircraft over Romania – the third time in four days that its planes have been sent to intercept drones in Ukraine’s border region. Six Russian drones were also detected in Moldova.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had intercepted 249 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the Black Sea and Kursk.
In Russia’s Rostov region, the death toll from a Ukrainian attack had risen to three, after initial reports of one death, officials said.
According to the acting Russian governor of the Rostov region, Yuri Sliusar, two people died in hospital.
One of the deaths occurred in the city of Taganrog, where Mayor Svetlana Kambulova promised “necessary response measures.”
Another 10 people were injured in the attacks.
In the southern Krasnodar region, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev described the overnight bombing of Ukraine as “one of the most sustained and massive attacks by the kyiv regime.”
The proposed peace plan, drawn up by U.S. and Russian officials last month, had caused much consternation in Ukraine and among its European allies, who said it was too friendly to the Kremlin.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the idea that the Trump administration “was not engaging with both sides equally in this war.”
After talks in Geneva between the United States and Ukraine concluded, Trump suggested that “something good might be happening,” but added: “Don’t believe it until you see it.”
Welcoming the proposed changes, Zelensky said the “main problem” was Putin’s demand for legal recognition of the territory Russia had seized.
The counterproposals, reportedly drafted by the United Kingdom, France and Germany, excluded any recognition of Russian-controlled regions, increased the permitted size of Ukraine’s military, and left the door open for Ukraine to join NATO.
Russia has consistently demanded Ukraine’s complete withdrawal from the entire eastern Donbas, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Moscow’s forces also control Crimea and much of two other regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the final peace plan should make it impossible for Moscow to invade again, and that Russia should “definitely not” rejoin the G8.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Tuesday, he said: “We can’t go back to normal… how do you imagine that?”
Tens of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians have been killed or injured, and millions of people have fled their homes since the full-scale invasion of Russia began in February 2022.
