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(Bloomberg) — Fresh talks between Russia and the US toward a ceasefire in Ukraine are expected as soon as this week, the Kremlin’s negotiator said in a state TV interview that aired hours after Moscow’s forces fired a ballistic missile at Kyiv, killing at least one person.
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It was unclear from the comments by Kirill Dmitriev on Russia’s Channel 1 who would be involved in the talks and at what level, or whether there would be in-person meetings.
Dmitriev, who’s regarded as a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, traveled to Washington last week for two days of meetings with officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy. He was the most senior Russian official to visit the US capital since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Dmitriev told Channel 1 said that among the topics discussed during a “positive, frank conversation” were potential joint investments, including in rare earth metals and in the Arctic. “We see a lot requests from American companies in the energy sphere and other spheres,” he said.
Russian forces early Sunday fired a ballistic missile at Ukraine’s capital and a barrage of missiles and drones at several other locations. The attack included over 100 drones as well as 23 missiles of various types, Ukraine’s armed forces said.
Russia’s defense ministry said in an update that it launched a “precision strike” with long-range air- and sea-based weapons “against the central artillery base” of Ukraine’s armed forces, as well as enterprises involved in drone production. The ministry didn’t specify any locations of those targets.
In Kyiv, explosions were heard early Sunday from air defense efforts, and fires broke out in at least three districts as some residents took shelter in subway stations. One person was killed and at least three injured, the city’s military administration said on Telegram. Sumy and Kupyansk in Ukraine’s northeast were also targeted, along Mykolayiv in the south.
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One missile was intercepted in the the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine, the regional governor said.
Poland’s military said it scrambled Polish and NATO alliance jets in response to “intense activity of long-range Russian jets, carrying out air strikes on western Ukraine.” There was no breach of Polish airspace, it said.
Sunday’s barrage followed an Iskander ballistic missile strike Friday in Kryvyi Rih, home town of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which killed 19 people, including nine children, and injured dozens of others.
Ukraine’s European allies late last week urged Putin to respond immediately to a US proposal for a partial ceasefire that Kyiv has accepted, while American officials have become frustrated by Russia’s foot-dragging on efforts led by Washington to end the three-year war.
“The pressure on Russia is still insufficient, and the daily Russian strikes on Ukraine prove it,” Zelenskiy said Sunday in a post on X. “These attacks are Putin’s response to all international diplomatic efforts.”
—With assistance from Kateryna Chursina and Wojciech Moskwa.
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