Russia Floats Post‑Nov. 4 Talks With U.S. and Ukraine While Intensifying Aerial Attacks, Zelensky Says
A senior Kremlin aide says Moscow is ready to resume negotiations with the United States and Ukraine after November 4, but warns that any first meeting would be limited. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has bombarded Ukraine over the past week with about 1,600 guided bombs, 48 missiles and nearly 2,300 attack drones.
Russia is signalling interest in new talks on the war even as its forces keep up a heavy tempo of strikes across Ukraine.
On 25 October, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia is ready to restart negotiations in a "Russia–US–Ukraine" format after 4 November. He cautioned that little should be expected from an initial meeting and added that work on a peace agreement would still lie ahead.
Ushakov’s comments come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describes a surge in Russian aerial attacks. Zelensky said that over the past week Russia launched around 1,600 guided aerial bombs, 48 missiles of various types, including ballistic missiles, and nearly 2,300 attack drones at Ukraine. He framed this as Russia’s response to diplomatic efforts and attempts to end its international isolation.
The scale Zelensky outlined matches recent reports of strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets. Russian attacks in Donetsk region killed one person and injured six, with an FPV drone hitting Yarova and other air bomb and drone strikes wounding people in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. A drone attack on a five‑story residential building in Vinnytsia injured six people, destroyed four apartments and damaged cars parked nearby. In Zaporizhzhia, regional authorities said an FPV drone hit people near a bus stop, injuring two men.
Russian drones and missiles have also hit commercial and logistics sites. In Poltava, officials reported a strike on an Epicentr hypermarket, while another Epicentr store in Kharkiv was reported struck overnight. Such attacks keep a wide range of civilian locations under threat even as talk of a negotiating format resurfaces.
The proposed "Russia–US–Ukraine" framework underlines how Moscow wants the United States directly involved alongside Kyiv. For Ukraine, which insists on defending its territory while under fire from guided bombs, missiles and drones, the question is how any talks could proceed while attacks of the scale Zelensky cited continue.
Key developments to watch include whether Washington or Kyiv publicly respond to Ushakov’s suggestion, any follow‑up from Moscow on the timing and format of possible talks after 4 November, and changes in the intensity or targeting of Russian strikes in the coming weeks.
Sources
- OSINT