The Japan Times - Russia-Ukraine talks possible this month, Zelensky says, as Moscow pounds Kyiv

The overnight barrage killed three people, the capital's mayor said, sending smoke billowing above the city as Moscow ended its temporary halt to strikes on Kyiv.

US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had visited the Russian and Ukrainian capitals at the weekend for talks with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There was no immediate breakthrough in the bid to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, but Zelensky on Tuesday said there were hopes to resume direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in the coming weeks.

"All of us will be preparing and bringing closer a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia, and America," Zelensky told journalists.

"If all sides agree, we also want to hold it in the autumn. If September works out, then it would be great. The earlier, the better," he said, without elaborating or confirming where the talks would take place.

Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed to move the sides closer together.

Trust is low, and there is no sign that either Moscow or Kyiv has shifted its positions.

AFP reporters in Kyiv heard fresh explosions ringing out in the early hours of Tuesday, triggering fires and sending locals down into basements and metro stations for shelter.

"The moment the US president's peace envoys left, Putin launched another massive, horrific attack against Kyiv," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.

"His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy."

- 'Terrifying' -

Russia's army said it had carried out a "massive strike" on military-industrial sites, logistics hubs and storage centres in Kyiv and its suburbs.

Locals described to AFP how they ran for cover as the attack started.

"It was very terrifying, we barely managed to run into the parking lot. The parking lot was shaking all over too," Nina Kimova, 55, said.

Her car had been "burnt to ashes", she said.

"I think this won't be the last such strike."

Civilian deaths in Ukraine are running at their highest rate since the first months of Russia's invasion, according to statistics verified by the United Nations.

In the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian attack killed two people.

Witkoff and Kushner's trips represented Washington's reengagement with trying to broker a deal between the two sides, which had been on hold for months.

Witkoff had touted "substantive progress" in the discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks.

"President Trump is working hard to stop the killing and work towards a lasting and durable peace," he said on X.

Witkoff and Kushner met Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before holding separate talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in their first official trip to Kyiv.

The Kremlin said Monday that it did not rule out three-way talks, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters "it is too early to say anything about the venue or the exact dates at this stage".

Zelensky told US news outlet Axios that the United States was pushing to de-escalate the conflict ahead of winter and that Putin did not want to annoy Trump before the US midterm legislative elections in early November.

Russia has struck Ukraine's energy grid each winter since invading in February 2022, cutting power and heating to millions in temperatures as low as -20C.

Zelensky has said the weekend talks included US proposals around energy facilities, grain shipments and oil and gas exports, but declined to give further details.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday appeared to rule out a Turkish proposal for a truce on strikes in the Black Sea, saying it was "unrealistic" and "impossible to monitor".

The two sides appear no closer to agreeing on how the war should end.

Moscow is demanding Ukraine cede territory in its eastern Donetsk region that it still controls and renounce Western military support.

Kyiv has said such terms amount to capitulation and would only allow Russia to prepare a fresh attack in its bid to install a Moscow-friendly puppet government.

T.Shimizu--JT