Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russia hits apartments in Kyiv with overnight drone attack

The electronic hum in the sky above told him that the Russians were on a hunting safari and that he was the prey. Leaping from his bicycle, Oleksandr left its wheels spinning as he bolted through a hole in a fence hoping to find cover.

Horrified to discover he was still in the open air, he threw himself against the fence, hoping to blend in, to somehow hide. The drone tracked sideways, hung above him, and dropped its bomb.

The explosion tore a chunk of his leg away.

Read the latest dispatch from Sam Kiley here:

Extended sounds of explosions were heard in the early hours of the night across Ukraine as the air raid blared for over five hours.

Russian drones and debris from shot-down drones, which were flying at lower altitudes to evade air defenses, fell on residential buildings.

Two residential buildings in the district of Dnipro caught fire due to falling drone debris, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko.

A fire broke out on the top floors of a 9-storey building, killing one woman, the State Emergency Service said.In the district of Podil, a fire broke out on the 20th floor of a 25-storey building.

In Holosiivskyi, fires broke out in a warehouse and office building, killing one person, according to the State Emergency Service.

Also on Sunday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the region of Rostov and 20 more over southwestern Astrakhan. In Rostov, one person was killed and a car caught fire due to the Ukrainian drone attack, according to the area’s temporary governor, Yuri Slyusar.

The Kremlin said that a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump was “a step towards a face-to-face meeting”, adding that Russia-U.S. talks in Riyadh scheduled for Monday would also be such a step, Interfax news agency reported.

Meanwhile, it has been reported in Bloomberg that the U.S. hopes to reach a broad ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, citing people familiar with the planning.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war are “somewhat under control.”

“Rational discussions” and having good relationships with presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine are key to negotiating an end to the war, Trump told Clay Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick, during an interview on Air Force One.

Trump had separate discussions with Putin and Zelensky last week aimed at ending the war that began when Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbor in 2022.

The talks, which fell short of Trump’s aim to secure a full 30-day ceasefire, resulted in Putin agreeing to stop Russian attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days and Zelensky saying he would also accept such a pause.

The Russian president has figured out a way to get Trump’s attention and distract him to such effect it delivers what Russia really wants. By reducing Ukraine to business deals and minerals, there is something much deeper and darker going on, writes Owen Matthews.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that he had met top military commanders in the country’s northeast to discuss the frontline in Ukraine’s war with Russia, as well as meetings with US officials set to take place in Saudi Arabia today.

Mr Zelensky was shown on the media platform X with commanders in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, a frequent target of Russian attacks.

He said he had discussed frontline sectors in eastern Ukraine, as well as in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops remain seven months after a cross-border incursion.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region

“We also prepared for the meeting between the Ukrainian and American delegations, that will take place tomorrow in Saudi Arabia,” the president wrote.

In Washington, a source familiar with the planning of the meetings in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian and Russian officials said the US delegation would be led by Andrew Peek from the National Security Council and Michael Anton from the State Department.

The group will meet the Ukrainians on Sunday night and the Russians on Monday.

Russia launched 147 drones overnight targeting several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

Ukrainian air defence units destroyed 97 of the drones, while 25 did not reach their targets, the air force said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defence units destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning.

Twenty-nine of the drones were destroyed over the southern region of Rostov, 20 over the Astrakhan region and the rest over the Voronezh, Volgograd, Kursk and Saratov regions, as well as over Crimea, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The attack comes as three Ukrainians are killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials will meet a US technical team in Riyadh on 23 March, a day before the US is set to hold separate discussions with Ukrainian and Russian delegations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the meeting, clarifying an earlier announcement in which he had stated that US-Ukraine talks would take place on 24 March.

The Ukrainian delegation will be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov and Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the President’s Office, according to an undisclosed Ukrainian source cited by Sky News. Both officials were also present at US-Ukraine discussions in Jeddah earlier this month.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine is dispatching “technical teams” to outline the specifics of a possible partial ceasefire with Russia. However, Kyiv has stressed that there will be no direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Riyadh