War in Ukraine: Russia carried out massive bombing overnight, at least four dead in kyiv

"Four people are confirmed dead in the capital," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, after citing a death toll of one and 20 injured, including 16 hospitalized. Emergency services had previously indicated that Kyiv was the target of an "attack involving drones and ballistic missiles" hitting several neighborhoods of the city.

Among the damage reported as a result of explosions and falling debris, a fire broke out in a residential building, the same source said. According to the city's civil and military authorities, subway tracks were damaged by Russian shelling. The national railway company reported damage to tracks in the area, affecting train service serving the southern outskirts of Kyiv.

Outside the capital, several regions reported significant Russian bombardments. In Lutsk, not far from the Polish border, "a massive missile and drone attack" "partially destroyed" a residential building, injuring five people, according to the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Rudnytsky, on Telegram.

Further west, the Ternopil region suffered "the most massive air attack to date," with "multiple strikes," according to Vyacheslav Negoda, head of the regional military administration. "Industrial facilities and infrastructure have been hit," said Ternopil Mayor Sergei Nadal. "Parts of Ternopil are without electricity, and water supply pressure has been reduced due to power outages."

In Russia, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that the capital had been targeted by 10 Ukrainian drones overnight. Three airports serving Moscow were temporarily closed, according to the air transport agency, which later lifted the restrictions.

Despite calls from Ukraine and the West for an immediate ceasefire and pressure from Donald Trump to engage in talks and end the conflict, the fighting shows no signs of abating, more than three years after the launch of Russia's large-scale military offensive. Russia currently controls about 20% of the neighboring country, including Crimea, a peninsula it annexed in 2014.

Following a call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the US president warned that Moscow intended to retaliate against Ukraine's audacious attack last weekend against Russian bombers, thousands of kilometers from its borders.

Moscow also accused Kiev on Tuesday of being behind the explosions that caused the collapse of two bridges last weekend and the train crashes that left seven dead and more than 100 injured, including children, in the Russian regions of Kursk and Bryansk, which border Ukraine.

A locomotive derailed in the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, overnight Thursday to Friday, causing no casualties, the Russian railway company reported. The region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram that "an explosive device had been placed under the tracks."

On the diplomatic front, two rounds of negotiations in Istanbul between kyiv and Moscow on a truce, encouraged by Washington, have not brought positions closer.

During the second meeting, mediated by Turkey on Monday, the Russian delegation presented kyiv with a list of demands, including the withdrawal of its forces from four regions Moscow claims to have annexed, Ukraine's renunciation of NATO membership, and a limitation on the size of its army. These conditions, described Wednesday by Volodymyr Zelensky as unacceptable "ultimatums," were among the demands.