Russia launches strikes on Ukraine’s capital while US peace plan under discussion

KYIV Ukraine AP Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine s capital Kyiv early Tuesday striking residential buildings and force infrastructure according to video footage and local government A residential building in the central Pechersk district and another in Kyiv s eastern district of Dniprovskyi were badly damaged Mayor Vitalii Kitschko declared Video footage posted to Telegram evidenced a large fire spread through multiple floors of the nine-story building in Dniprovskyi At least four people were injured commented Tymor Tkachenko the head of Kyiv city administration Ukraine s vigor ministry noted power infrastructure had been hit without specifying what type or the extent of the damage Russian air defenses destroyed Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions including occupied Crimea the Russian Defense Ministry reported Tuesday The majority of the drones were shot down over the Black Sea according to the defense ministry The attacks followed talks between U S and Ukraine representatives in Geneva on Sunday about a U S -Russia brokered peace plan Oleksandr Bevz a delegate from the Ukrainian side described The Associated Press the talks had been very constructive and the two sides were able to discuss greater part points Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov commented Monday it had not seen the updated plan Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian executives for several hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday after the Trump administration jump-started negotiations to end the war in Ukraine a U S official approved to The Associated Press Driscoll who became part of the U S negotiating crew less than two weeks ago is now heading up the latest phase of talks involving the terms of a viable peace plan with Russia The U S official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations also noted the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting The official wouldn t offer details on how long the negotiations were expected to last or what topics were being discussed but noted all sides have indicated they yearned to reach a deal to halt the fighting as swiftly as accomplishable Toropin informed from Washington Source