Kyiv drone strikes kill two as Trump talks yield no deal

Kyiv drone strikes killed at least two people and hit fuel, rail and warehouse sites after Zelenskiy met President Trump on peace efforts.

The assault ran from Wednesday morning into the early afternoon, leaving more than 30 people injured in the capital, according to officials. They described it as one of the heaviest recent attacks since Russia began using faster, higher-flying jet drones around Kyiv.

Jet drones over Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia sent many drones at the city, with a large share of them jet-powered. In a post on X, he said civilian and critical sites were being targeted, including pharmaceutical facilities, gas stations, railways, communications infrastructure and shopping malls.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone struck a nine-story non-residential building, along with a business center and warehouses. Smoke was visible above the center of the capital and other districts after several explosions were reported during the hours-long attack.

Rail sites and fuel stations

The strikes were concentrated near Kyiv's main railway station, but railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said the station itself was not damaged. Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the company's head, said railway infrastructure came under attack and one railway worker was injured.

Ukrainian oil company Ukrnafta said one of its petrol stations in the capital was hit, the sixth such facility attacked in recent weeks. Authorities said two petrol stations were struck in all, adding fuel distribution sites to the list of civilian infrastructure damaged in the raid.

Katarina Mathernova, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said in a social media post that fires were visible near the EU Delegation in Kyiv. “Buildings nearby are burning,” she wrote, describing the scene from the delegation's windows.

Energy ceasefire test

The attack followed Zelenskiy's Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump, where the Ukrainian leader discussed a possible bilateral ceasefire covering energy-related targets. Zelenskiy also asked for more US Patriot air defense missiles to protect Ukraine's electricity system before an expected Russian winter campaign, but said no agreements were reached.

Zelenskiy, who was due to address the UN General Assembly later Wednesday, said sanctions pressure on Moscow should continue, including measures targeting Russian oligarchs. The Kremlin said the basis for future peace talks with Ukraine was still absent and that no high-level meetings were planned.

A separate Russian aerial bomb attack killed at least four people and injured four others in a frontline village in the Donetsk region, the regional governor said on Telegram. The two attacks underscored the spread of pressure from the capital to eastern settlements already close to the front line.

Energy worker Mykola Nechypurenko, part of a team repairing power-network damage, said he was skeptical that a narrow ceasefire would shield the grid. “As long as the war goes on, energy infrastructure remains under threat,” said Nechypurenko, 55.

If an energy-target ceasefire takes hold, Ukraine's grid operators, Ukrnafta and railway logistics would gain repair time before winter. For global markets, the mechanism would be lower perceived disruption risk around regional fuel supply and European energy planning.

If attacks continue instead, Ukraine faces repeated repair cycles across power, fuel and transport networks, while defense demand stays concentrated on systems such as Patriots. The main open question is whether Moscow and Kyiv accept narrow energy terms before colder weather increases the cost of grid damage.