Putin has instructed the military to hold off on hitting Kyiv for 72 hours beginning at midnight, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass agency. He linked the move to preparations for U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's planned visit to Kyiv, which Ukrainian officials say is set for Sunday.
The two U.S. envoys arrived in Moscow aiming to revive a faltering effort to end Russia's full-scale invasion. At the airport, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev greeted the delegation and posted photos captioned, "Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers." They last traveled to Moscow in January and met Putin in the Kremlin during that trip, and they have not previously been to Kyiv.
Washington's effort has lost momentum because for the past six months the U.S. has focused on its war with Iran.
With talks stuck, Russia has ratcheted up strikes on Kyiv and other cities, often pushing bombardments into daytime and exploiting Ukraine's limited air defenses. Air-raid sirens have become a routine soundtrack in the capital.
On Friday, a Russian drone hit the Security Service of Ukraine headquarters in Kyiv. That agency is among those involved in Ukraine's deep strikes into Russia. Ukraine's long-range campaign has targeted Russian military sites, oil refineries and e-commerce logistics centers to pressure the war effort and the broader economy.
The fighting has stayed largely static along a 1,250 kilometer, or 775 mile, front, even as Russia employs faster, jet-powered drones. On Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would pause its own airstrikes during the U.S. envoys' visit and urged Moscow to mirror that step. In a Saturday social post, he said Russia attacked the airports serving Kyiv and Boryspil overnight, adding, "Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine." He added, "We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side."
Russian strikes killed five people and injured five more at an industrial site in Ukraine's southern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
He said the victims were workers at the facility: "A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives." Another strike hit the Nikopol district of the region, injuring a 62-year-old man and damaging several houses and an apartment building.
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Russia's Ministry of Defense said it hit two metallurgical plants in the region, calling them "major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine's military production."
Two people were also injured during a nighttime strike in Kyiv region, according to Tymur Tkachenko, who leads the regional military administration. A strike-triggered fire in the Boryspil district partly wrecked a nine-story apartment block.
Ukraine's state emergency services said that, overnight in the southern Mykolaiv region, drones hit a shopping center multiple times, setting fires and damaging shops. Those hurt included a man aged 72 and a girl aged 17, and because of the danger of further strikes, rescue crews withdrew on several occasions, returning only when the situation allowed.
Local officials said Ukrainian strikes wounded three people in Russia's Belgorod border region, including a 14-year-old girl.
Ukraine's air force reported that Russia launched ballistic missiles from the Rostov and Voronezh regions and sent 167 attack drones overnight. The swarm included Shahed-type drones, roughly half of them jet-powered, along with Geran and decoy models. Ukrainian defenses said they downed or suppressed 128 drones. Russia's Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.
For your money, the signal is that diplomacy and escalation are moving at the same time. Envoy travel, temporary pauses and fresh barrages can quickly shift risk for energy, metals and logistics, so keep an eye on whether this 72-hour window leads to wider restraint or fades back into the current pace of strikes.
