Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Russia intensified its military campaign against Ukraine early Tuesday with a series of strikes on Kyiv, hitting residential areas and energy infrastructure even as US-backed peace negotiations continued elsewhere.
Local officials reported that multiple buildings in the capital sustained significant damage. A nine-story residential block in Kyiv’s eastern Dniprovskyi district caught fire after being struck, with flames spreading across several floors, according to video posted on Telegram. Tymor Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city administration, said at least four people were injured. Another residential building in the central Pechersk district was also badly damaged, Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said.
Ukraine’s energy ministry confirmed that energy infrastructure facilities were targeted, though it did not specify the extent of the damage or which installations were hit. The attacks continued a pattern of Russian strikes aimed at disrupting Ukrainian power supplies as winter approaches.
Moscow, meanwhile, claimed to have intercepted a large number of Ukrainian drones overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses destroyed 249 drones across several regions, including occupied Crimea, with 116 reportedly downed over the Black Sea.
The escalation came as diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the war showed rare signs of movement. After US and Ukrainian representatives met in Geneva on Sunday to refine a proposed peace framework, the talks moved to the United Arab Emirates. The Associated Press reported that US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held several hours of discussions with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, marking his most prominent role yet in the negotiations.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions, said Driscoll is now heading the latest phase of the talks, which aim to clarify the terms of a possible peace plan acceptable to both Kyiv and Moscow. The official added that Ukraine was aware of the meeting but declined to offer details on the duration or substance of the negotiations.
The Geneva discussions earlier in the week were described as constructive by Oleksandr Bevz, a member of the Ukrainian delegation. Bevz said both sides were able to address most points of the draft plan, which has been circulating in various forms as Washington attempts to broker a pathway toward a ceasefire.
Despite this progress, uncertainty remains. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow had not yet reviewed the updated version of the US proposal, even as President Vladimir Putin has previously suggested that earlier drafts could serve as a basis for a potential settlement.
The juxtaposition of intensified attacks on Kyiv and renewed diplomatic engagement illustrates the precariousness of the moment: while the battlefield continues to impose new human and infrastructural costs, negotiators are quietly testing whether enough common ground exists to halt a war that has defied resolution for nearly three years.
