Night of Russian attacks as peace talks reportedly draw closer

A new wave of Russian attacks struck several regions of Ukraine overnight, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens. Al Jazeera and Kyiv Independent report this, citing Ukrainian government sources and the general staff of Kyiv’s armed forces: these are two independent sources, which allows the reported toll to be considered sufficiently solid under this newspaper’s standards.

The Ukrainian government has accused Moscow of using North Korean-made missiles in the attack. This is an accusation that draws renewed attention to Pyongyang’s role in supporting Moscow militarily: President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia is receiving more ballistic missiles and more troops from its North Korean ally, according to the same sources cited above. No details are provided at this stage regarding the number of missiles, the exact type used, or the precise date of the attack.

While the death toll is being counted in the cities hit, on the diplomatic front parallel work continues that sources describe as further advanced than usual. According to ABC News, Ukraine, its European partners and the United States are working in these days on three separate documents: a twenty-point peace plan, a package of security guarantees for Kyiv, and a plan for the country’s reconstruction. Kyiv delivered the revised version of the twenty-point plan to the White House in the week preceding this edition, a step the US outlet places within a more concrete negotiating phase compared to previous ones.

US administration officials cited by ABC News claim that a very large share of the open issues between Russia and Ukraine has already been resolved, estimating the level of progress reached on the negotiating sticking points at around 90 percent. This is, at present, an assessment coming from a single journalistic source: no independent confirmation has emerged from Ukrainian, Russian or other identified US sources, and it is not specified whether the estimate covers all three documents or only some of their sections.

The contrast between the two dimensions of the conflict remains, based on the available elements, difficult to reconcile into a single picture. On one hand, the new raids have produced civilian casualties across several Ukrainian regions; on the other, American sources describe a negotiation said to have overcome its most difficult phase. The cited sources do not clarify whether the ongoing talks include a timeline for the cessation of hostilities, nor whether the overnight attacks had any effect on the schedule of the three documents being drafted.

What remains established, based on the sources currently available, is that the attacks caused at least 12 deaths and several dozen injuries overnight, that Kyiv attributes the use of North Korean missiles to Moscow, and that three negotiating documents — the twenty-point plan, security guarantees, and reconstruction plan — are being drafted between Kyiv, its European partners and Washington.