U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
An explosion was heard in Kyiv early on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness, as Ukrainian air defence systems were activated across the capital.
The Kyiv Military Administration said air defence units were responding to a potential threat and urged residents to seek shelter.
Russia said U.S. missile systems recently deployed to Norway would become potential targets in the event of an armed conflict, arguing that the launchers could strike a significant portion of European Russia, including Moscow.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia's strategic deterrence forces are already factoring the locations of the systems and their command facilities into military planning.
Her comments followed the deployment of a U.S. Navy containerised missile launcher to Trondheim for the NATO Atlantic City 26 exercise involving the United States, Britain and Norway.
External power has been restored to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine after more than two weeks of reliance on emergency diesel generators, according to Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
The facility had been operating without off-site electricity since 20 August, using backup generators to cool critical safety systems.
Rosatom said power was restored via the Ferosplavna transmission line following repair work carried out under a local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said the plant is now operating normally.
Latvia's government plans to introduce a 300% tariff on grain imports from Russia and Belarus, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said on Monday.
The proposed measure is aimed at reducing dependence on agricultural imports from the two countries and increasing economic pressure on Moscow and Minsk.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that the state election victory by the pro-Russia AfD would not change the federal government's support for Ukraine and warned that there is a very concrete threat facing Germany's internal security.
“And I want to make this very clear: 2,500 kilometres east of here, people are especially delighted with this election result” in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, said Merz, in reference to Russia.
A Russian attack has damaged a British American Tobacco BATS.L plant in the town of Pryluky in Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, the company said on Monday.
The company was examining the results of the strike and according to preliminary information, no one had been injured, BAT Ukraine's press office said in an emailed request for comment on the attack.
One person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a car in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, the region's Russian-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik said on Monday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday urged all sides to “keep diplomacy going” after U.S. envoys visited Kyiv and Moscow for talks.
“Our partners know what can bear fruit and what must bear fruit ahead of winter. We are coordinating our next steps. We are preparing the next meetings and communications,” he said on X.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it did not rule out the resumption of peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, but said it was too early to say when and where such talks might take place.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments when asked about a weekend visit to Moscow and Kyiv by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are trying to breathe new life into stalled talks designed to find a way to end the war in Ukraine.
Peskov said the Kremlin did not rule out a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the U.S. envoys' trip.
Moscow has not yet received any information about contacts between the U.S. envoys and Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday, Peskov said.
German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Monday the country's freedom is under threat from Russian drones as well as by domestic lawmakers who support Moscow in parliament, underscoring the government's harder line against Russia.
Freedom in Germany is “threatened from outside by Russian drones in our skies and from inside by Moscow's ideological low-flyers in our parliaments,” said Dobrindt, speaking at a political rally in Bavaria.
Berlin has blamed Russia for a drone attack in August at Leipzig/Halle airport. Dobrindt's warning comes after the far-right AfD, which has been pushing for restoring ties with Russia, won state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday.
An industrial facility sustained minor damage in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Tatarstan region on the Volga River, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing the regional governor's press service.
TASS did not identify the facility or specify its location.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Ukrainian strikes in Russia’s Perm region, saying oil-processing facilities were hit.
He also said facilities in Tatarstan, an oil refinery in Ryazan, a drone storage and launch site in Kursk, and an unspecified target in the Black Sea were struck.
One person was killed and another injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local authorities said on Monday.
Reuters could not independently confirm the report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
One person was killed and four others were injured in Russia's Perm region after a Ukrainian drone attack caused damage to a residential building, Dmitry Makhonin, the regional governor, said in a statement.
He said local air defence units had shot down 27 drones.
In Kyiv, women continue to give birth despite air raid alerts and the threat of Russian drone attacks. Alyona Bohatyrenko delivered her baby daughter at a maternity hospital during an air alert, saying she had somehow become used to the danger.
Doctors at Kyiv City Maternity Hospital No. 2 decided to continue deliveries on the ward despite the security risks. Intensifying Russian attacks have disrupted daily life across Kyiv, with officials warning conditions could worsen as winter approaches.
Young families are considering moving to safer locations, fearing the impact of continued strikes and possible energy shortages. The war has deepened Ukraine’s demographic crisis, with birth rates falling amid security concerns and military mobilisation.
Russia’s military struck a vessel carrying what it said was military cargo at the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk on Sunday evening, Interfax reported on Monday, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.
The Russian military also struck loading facilities at the port of Izmail on Monday morning, the agency reported, again citing the ministry.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared in a recent X post that three rounds of negotiations were held in Kyiv on Sunday, describing all of them as “very substantive”.
He said discussions with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and European partners focused on preparations for winter if the war with Russia continues. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is seeking support for air defence and the energy sector, as well as “substantial volumes” of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the ability to use it.
He thanked U.S. and European partners for their attention to the challenges Ukraine could face during the winter months.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The meeting marked Kushner and Witkoff’s first visit to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The talks came a day after the two met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
“We’ve had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important and we are very encouraged,” Witkoff said after the meeting, adding that the U.S. team would continue negotiations “as long as it takes”. Kushner said President Donald Trump wanted to establish conditions for a “long-term, durable peace”, not simply end the current conflict. He added that the U.S. team had “learned a lot” from its visit to Moscow.
British, French and German national security advisers also joined the talks. Zelenskyy welcomed their participation, saying: “Here we are all on the same side.” Zelenskyy said the war currently appeared likely to continue into winter and said Ukraine hoped to reach agreements with its U.S. partners while relying on European support.
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