Zelenskyy says Russian attacks on Kyiv airports timed to US envoys' visit

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports were "clearly" a response to the prospect of US negotiators travelling to Kyiv following discussions in Moscow.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv had "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." Both airports serve the Ukrainian capital.

The US envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who were in Moscow for the first time since January, made no public comment. They left Moscow shortly after the talks and were expected to meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday.

Following three hours of talks, an aide to Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov, said the Russian president had told the US pair that Russia was making "real progress" on the battlefield, was confident of achieving its goals, and stressed the need to address "all the root causes of the conflict." Ushakov said the Americans had "outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement," but he did not detail those ideas.

The air conflict between Russia and Ukraine has escalated as ground troops have struggled to advance along the 1,250km frontline. Russia has recently deployed fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and air raid sirens have become a regular occurrence in Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov posted online that Putin had instructed the military not to attack Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight on Saturday. However, he said Russia had not agreed to a broader three-day ceasefire. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to refrain from strikes on Moscow through to Monday.

Russian strikes killed five employees and wounded five others at an industrial facility in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the local military administration head, Oleksandr Hanzha. "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." Russia's defence ministry said it had struck two metallurgical plants that it claimed were used for military production.

A 62-year-old man was wounded, and several homes and an apartment building damaged, in a separate attack on the region's Nikopol district, Hanzha said. The city of Dnipro and the nearby Pidhorodne community were among the areas hit. One person died and five others were injured, including two men hospitalised in serious condition. A sixth civilian was injured in an attack on the Nikopol district.

Other deadly Russian attacks occurred in Chuhuiv in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, in the Bucha district of Ukraine's Kyiv region, and at a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region. In Russia's Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, two people were killed and three others wounded by Ukrainian attacks on Saturday, local authorities said. Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones, Ukraine's air force said on Saturday.