Russia pounds Ukraine with overnight strikes, killing two near Kyiv on eve of Paris peace summit
Russia launched overnight airstrikes across Ukraine early Monday, killing two people in the Kyiv region and triggering nationwide air raid alerts hours before European leaders gather in Paris to discuss a potential peace framework, Ukrainian authorities said.
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Sirens sounded shortly after midnight as Ukrainian air defenses engaged multiple incoming targets, the military said. In Kyiv, a private medical facility caught fire following a strike, killing one person and injuring three, according to the State Emergency Service, which released images of rescuers evacuating people on stretchers from a gutted building.
In the nearby city of Fastiv, a pre-dawn attack killed a man in his 70s, Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
The strikes came as diplomatic efforts intensify. European leaders are set to meet in Paris seeking momentum behind a peace plan that Kyiv says is “90 percent” complete. Over the weekend, security advisers from 15 countries — including Britain, France and Germany — as well as representatives from NATO and the European Union convened in Kyiv to lay groundwork ahead of the summit. Another preparatory session among chiefs of staff is expected Monday.
Despite the flurry of diplomacy, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on the war’s endgame. Russia, which occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine, has pushed for full control of the eastern Donbas region as part of any settlement. Kyiv has warned that ceding territory would embolden the Kremlin and insists any deal must deter future aggression.
As the front shifts, the aerial contest has deepened. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it has intercepted Ukrainian drones targeting the Moscow region every day in 2026 and claimed to have downed several hundred over the weekend. The Kremlin also published video of a downed drone it said was aimed at a residence used by President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Novgorod region, adding that the property was not damaged and that Putin was elsewhere at the time.
Ukraine denied involvement, and several European allies voiced skepticism about the claim. Asked about the incident, U.S. President Donald Trump said that “something” occurred near Putin’s residence but that American officials did not believe it was a Ukrainian strike. “I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Russia has separately accused Kyiv of attacking a hotel and cafe in Moscow-held territory in the southern Kherson region early Thursday, killing 28 people celebrating the New Year. Ukraine said the site hosted a military gathering.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, calling it a “special military operation” to stop NATO’s expansion. Russia made more territorial gains last year than in any year since the invasion began, according to an AFP analysis of data compiled by the Institute for the Study of War.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
