Russian attacks kill 3 in Ukraine as Zelenskyy awaits US envoys

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian attacks overnight killed at least three people in Ukraine, local officials said Friday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said U.S. envoys are expected to visit Kyiv within the coming days as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as the conflict stretches into its fifth year following Moscow's invasion of its neighbor. Russian forces have relentlessly struck civilian areas.

Previously, these attacks occurred mostly at night — but now they are happening during the day as well. The front line in eastern and southern Ukraine remains largely deadlocked.

US envoys expected in Kyiv

Though U.S. efforts to negotiate a settlement have yet to produce a path to peace, in his nightly address Thursday Zelenskyy said that preliminary dates have been set for meetings in both Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine's negotiating team is in near-constant contact with the U.S. side and preparing for talks, he said.

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“They confirmed they will have a meeting in Moscow and another one in Kyiv. We expect the latter to take place in the coming days. This is very important. It is important that America remain actively engaged,” he said, adding that Ukraine is ready for substantive, high-level negotiations.

Russian state news agency Tass reported Friday that American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would visit Moscow first, then Kyiv on Saturday and Sunday, though this could not be independently verified.

Speaking with journalists Friday, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to confirm reports that Kushner and Witkoff would visit Moscow, only saying that the media would be informed if such a meeting took place.

U.S. officials did not immediately confirm the visit.

Kushner and Witkoff last visited Moscow in January 2026, where they met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This would be their first visit to Kyiv.

After that meeting, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described talks as constructive, but said “that reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue.”

However, further talks have lost momentum with the White House's attention focused on its conflict with Iran.

In a news conference on Wednesday, Putin described negotiations as “frozen.”

Deadly strikes in Ukraine

The latest diplomatic developments came as a “massive” overnight Russian attack on the Odesa region killed one person and injured at least five others, including a child, regional head Oleh Kiper said in a post on Telegram. The attacks damaged multiple residential buildings, including two multistory blocks.

Overnight strikes elsewhere in Ukraine killed two police officers in Dnipro, officials said, while a drone attack in Kyiv injured three people after hitting a residential building.

In Russia, a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike hit the Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the nearby district of Sirius, regional officials said Friday. They said the attack sparked a blaze at an oil depot but gave no further details. Russian media outlets reported two depots were hit, with one fire in Sochi and another in Sirius.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted oil facilities that form the backbone of Russia's economy, one of the world's largest energy producers. Growing economic pressure and public frustration have mounted in Russia after months of escalating Ukrainian strikes on refineries and e-commerce hubs that have caused nationwide disruptions.

The barrages prompted Putin last month to decree that the state can temporarily seize control of critical infrastructure facilities if private owners fail to protect them from Ukrainian drone attacks or don’t rebuild them after strikes. Analysts said the move was aimed at forcing companies to pay for their own security and bring damaged assets back into service, despite the cost.

Drone washes up in Finland

Finnish authorities said Friday they were investigating how a Russian-made drone ended up on a rocky shoreline in the Pellinge archipelago east of Helsinki.

Finland’s Border Guard said what appears to be a Geoscan 701 drone, manufactured by a Russian company, was found on the shore. “The device model in question is used by both state and civilian operators, and it is not possible at this stage to determine its intended use or identify the country or entity operating it,” the Border Guard said in a statement.

State broadcaster Yle reported the drone was discovered Tuesday by a fisherman, Peter Kellgren, who said it “was out there in the open sea” and appeared to have drifted ashore from elsewhere.

Geoscan describes itself as one of Russia’s leading drone manufacturers, and says the 701 model is designed for large-scale aerial surveying.

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Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine