Russian strikes hit Kyiv after Witkoff meets Putin

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged a fresh wave of attacks, hours after a US envoy sat down with Russia's president in St Petersburg to push for renewed talks on ending the war.

Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight into Thursday killed at least one person and injured 22, including four children, according to Ukraine's national emergency service. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said metro infrastructure was damaged at the Pivdenny Bridge, which spans the Dnipro River.

Russia reported damage of its own. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said two people were wounded after Ukraine launched 630 drones at the region, 163 of them aimed at the capital, with most intercepted. The governor of the nearby Tula region said Russian air defences destroyed 70 drones, while another man was wounded in the Lipetsk region.

The attacks came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin at Constantine Palace on Wednesday. During the visit, Russia freed jailed American teacher Stephen Hubbard as a goodwill gesture, prompting Witkoff to praise Putin as a "humanitarian". President Donald Trump said afterwards he believed the war may be as close as it has ever been to ending, and delayed a new wave of Russia-related sanctions, a move he defended as necessary to secure Hubbard's release.

The Kremlin said it was "in principle" willing to restart US-mediated talks, but warned there was little substance in Ukrainian and European peace proposals. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said "appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war" -- "only strength will".