Russian attacks kill at least five in Ukraine as US envoys pursue talks

At least five people were killed and five injured in a Russian attack on Kamianske in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha, as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Moscow.

The attack came after Ukrainian forces were reportedly ordered to observe a three-day ceasefire from September 5 to September 8. Ukrainian authorities later said Russian attacks had continued, and the armed forces clarified that the temporary arrangement did not apply while Russia maintained its aggression.

Further injuries were reported in other parts of Ukraine. Three people, including a 17-year-old boy, were injured in the Odesa region, a 17-year-old girl was hurt in a drone attack on a shopping centre in Mykolaiv, and two women were hospitalised after a strike on a residential building in Boryspil in the Kyiv region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian strikes also targeted airports in Kyiv and Boryspil. Russian authorities, meanwhile, said their forces had intercepted and destroyed 53 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight, including several over the Moscow region.

The diplomatic activity was linked to a US proposal intended to end the war, although its details and status have not been independently established. Witkoff and Kushner were expected to travel to Kyiv, but that visit had not taken place in the available material. Previous efforts have encountered reported disagreements over territory and security guarantees.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said a separate local ceasefire had been arranged to allow repairs to restore external power at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Russian-controlled facility had reportedly been without external power since August 20 and was relying on emergency diesel generators for cooling and safety systems, according to Al Jazeera.