Russian and Ukrainian Strikes Kill at Least Ten Amid Stalled Peace Push

Russia and Ukraine traded attacks that killed at least ten people, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday, as Ukraine's largest steel plant halted production and Russia's foreign minister accused Europe of undermining efforts to negotiate an end to the war.¹

Deaths across Ukraine and Russia

Al Jazeera reported that four people died in Ukraine from Russian attacks, while six were killed in Russia and Russian-held areas by Ukrainian strikes. The outlet reported that two women were killed when rubble collapsed on them in Zaporizhzhia following a nighttime Russian assault involving drones and missiles, and that another Russian strike left two people dead in Sumy.¹

A Ukrainian drone attack on Krasnodar killed three people and wounded two, sparking fires at two industrial facilities that included an oil refinery, according to the regional governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, cited by Al Jazeera. The outlet added that three more people were killed by Ukrainian strikes in the section of the Zaporizhzhia region held by Russian forces.¹

Euronews reported that Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least six people and injured multiple others on the same day. Attacks on the Zaporizhzhia region killed two women and injured seven, while two people were killed and eight injured in Donetsk, where 1,121 residents were evacuated from front-line areas. Kherson region attacks killed one person and injured three, and a drone strike on the Sumy region killed a 69-year-old man, Euronews said.³

Russian forces also struck a cargo vessel carrying military supplies near Odesa and hit a logistics hub in the city, Al Jazeera reported, while Kyiv sustained strikes that injured five people, according to Euronews.¹³

Steel plant halted, Kyiv strikes

According to CBC, ArcelorMittal told the Ukrainian government it could no longer run its southeastern Ukraine plant safely or sustainably, following four strikes over five weeks that inflicted heavy damage and killed five workers. Both CBC and Al Jazeera noted the facility has roughly 12,500 employees and 3,500 contractors, and that steel had once represented 15 percent of Ukraine's total exports.²¹

CBC and Al Jazeera reported that Russian airstrikes on the capital left seven dead—among them a 14-year-old boy—and wounded over 50 others. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four bodies were discovered in a parking area following a distinct daylight assault on a business building. CBC reported that a McDonald's-operated storage warehouse was struck as well on Friday, an attack that Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha characterized as part of a pattern designed to "disrupt Ukrainians' daily lives, damage businesses, threaten jobs, and undermine international investment."²¹³

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 173 attack drones, of which air defences shot down or neutralised 134, according to Euronews. Al Jazeera and CBC reported that Ukrainian forces kept up distant drone attacks against Russian refineries and industrial facilities, striking sites in Perm and Novoshakhtinsk and forcing a brief operational shutdown.³¹²

Diplomatic exchanges

Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the United Nations General Assembly that "Europe is doing everything it can to thwart peace talks in which the Trump administration is interested," according to CBS News. Lavrov also said Moscow would achieve its aims in Ukraine "no matter the circumstances."⁴

CBS News reported that Lavrov held talks with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, marking the first such encounter between the two nations' top diplomats since before the conflict began. Wadephul told the assembly that "Russia's war targets the lives of millions of innocent people, the existence of the Ukrainian state and culture and the European peace order." CBS News noted that Germany had previously blamed Russia for a foiled drone strike targeting Leipzig's airport, prompting both nations to shut down each other's consular offices.⁴

Vladimir Putin told reporters Moscow was not preparing hostilities against Europe, saying, "We are not preparing for any kind of hostilities with Europe," and adding there was "no real motive to escalate the situation with Europe, no matter what anyone says, no matter who says it, including in the Baltic states," Euronews reported. The outlet pointed out that incidents involving drones entering Baltic airspace, along with similar occurrences, had surged in recent months.³

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was "escalating every single day" and called for the world to respond, saying, "If the Russians have chosen to make their strikes even more brutal, the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further," CBS News reported. President Trump commented on his meeting with Zelenskyy at the UN General Assembly, saying he wanted Zelenskyy to "settle" with Putin and hoped a deal could come "before the heavy winter," according to CBS News. Zelenskyy expressed confidence that the White House was capable of helping bring Russia's invasion to a close.⁴

Search for talks

According to Al Jazeera, the United States floated the idea of bringing together Russian, Ukrainian and American officials for talks in the United Arab Emirates, having put forward the Gulf nation as a potential location, though Ukraine was still waiting on a scheduled date. Egypt, India, Turkiye and Middle East representatives were taking part in talks on unblocking Black Sea shipping, and other nations had put forward related proposals, according to the outlet.¹

Al Jazeera reported that all avenues toward a settlement stayed open even as Russia continued to assess where its interests lay, with Moscow indicating readiness to resume negotiations with Kyiv after parliamentary elections while alleging Ukraine was attempting to hit the capital and target voting sites. The outlet cited Russian officials saying Russia is not preparing to end the war and that Putin is looking for pretexts to continue it.¹