KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged airstrikes overnight as talks were set to resume in Brussels on Thursday on Ukraine's postwar reconstruction and security guarantees once the fighting ends.
The latest Russian aerial barrage underscored the scale of the rebuilding task, as did the ongoing search for people missing beneath rubble after a deadly airstrike in southern Ukraine on Monday.
Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at Russian targets. The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces shot down nearly 500 drones overnight.
A Ukrainian attack killed five people and wounded 13 others on Thursday in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region, Kremlin-installed officials said.
The strike hit a bus traveling between the regional capital, Luhansk, and a nearby town, said Leonid Pasechnik, the region’s Moscow-backed leader. Further details weren't immediately available.
Meanwhile, rescue teams continued to search for more than 30 people believed trapped in the wreckage of a former school and a nearby shelter hit by Russian guided bombs on Monday.
The attack in Komyshuvakha, near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, struck as residents waited for humanitarian aid. It was one of the deadliest strikes in the region since the full-scale invasion began nearly five years ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 43 people have been confirmed killed. Efforts to identify some of the victims using DNA samples from relatives were continuing. Zelenskyy said in a message on X that one person who had been reported missing was found alive.
Postwar reconstruction talks resume
Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said that talks were continuing for a second day at NATO headquarters in Brussels focused on postwar reconstruction, funding for 2027 and security guarantees backed by the Ukrainian government's Western allies.
Umerov said that the discussions with officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union and NATO were also being attended by the World Bank and the U.S. investment group BlackRock.
“We separately discussed the threats from Russia to Ukraine and all of Europe, as well as joint steps to counter them,” Umerov wrote in an online post.
The Brussels meetings are taking place days before negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are due to meet in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for talks aimed at trying to end the war. Late Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that he had held a 90-minute conversation with U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“The negotiations must move forward at full throttle to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Ukraine is ready to take the necessary steps. Our proposals are clear, and we have given them to the American side.”
Kushner posted on X that talks are focused not only on “ending this terrible war, but on the broader security architecture needed to ensure that when the fighting stops, it never starts again.”
He paid tribute to Zelenskyy and his team's “constructive engagement and commitment to finding a path forward.”
In excerpts from an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, to be aired in full on Friday, Zelenskyy expressed hope that the Democratic Party's win in the U.S. midterm elections could usher in a new era of support for Ukraine.
“We have support from two parties — support from both parties. I am also grateful to the Republicans,” Zelenskyy said. He added that the Democrats “speak of renewing the ties between the U.S. and Europe, which have been somewhat lost in recent years. And that is very important to us.”
Europe sends vital funds to invest in Ukraine's defense, public services
The European Commission on Thursday sent Ukraine 4.36 billion euros ($4.9 billion) as part of a 90 billion-euro ($101 billion) loan agreed in April by EU leaders to support the embattled nation.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the money will help Ukraine fund essential spending on defense and public services.
“As Russia continues its relentless attacks, Ukraine is about to start its fifth wartime winter,” she said. “And as efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace for Ukraine continue, so too does the EU’s unwavering support.”
Zelenskyy took to X to thank Europe, saying the money will help fund pressing needs “such as strengthening Ukraine’s energy resilience and procuring drones, electronic warfare, and air defense assets.”
Russian airstrikes wound 4 in Ukraine
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or suppressed 105 of 128 Russian attack drones overnight and into early Thursday, while Russian strikes wounded four people in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv regions, Ukrainian officials said.
Russian drones struck six areas in the Dnipropetrovsk region, wounding three people in the city of Dnipro, regional administrator Oleksandr Hanzha said. A Russian attack on logistics infrastructure west of the capital, Kyiv, caused a fire and wounded a man, the State Emergency Service said.
Ukraine targets Russia, with a blaze reported at an oil refinery
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces shot down 496 Ukrainian drones over 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia, and the Black and Azov Seas.
More than 200 Ukrainian drones targeted Russia’s Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, wounding one person, local governor Pavel Malkov said.
Malkov said that falling debris from the attack damaged power lines and sparked a fire at an industrial site. Russian media outlets later reported a blaze at Ryazan oil refinery, sharing pictures of plumes of smoke and the night sky glowing red.
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Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.