Emergency workers at an apartment building damaged by a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, February 3, 2026 (Serhii Okunev/AFP/Getty)
Monday’s Coverage: Russia Murders 12+ Miners, Injures 16 in Drone Strike
On the eve of the second set of Ukraine-Russia-US talks, Moscow has renewed its massive missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions.
Explosions began in Kyiv around 12:30 a.m. as air defenses were activated. Officials reported damage to apartment blocks, an education establishment, and a commercial building. A building housing a kindergarten was set afire.
Residents tried to find shelter as temperatures dropped to -24°C (-11°F).
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, two people were injured. Heating was cut to more than 800 buildings.
The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine reported attacks, with anti-aircraft units in action in the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region.
Hours earlier, in his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had hailed Russia’s three-day pause in attacks on energy infrastructure while noting that Moscow had switched its assault to logistics such as railways.
Today, throughout the day, there were no missile strikes or “shaheds” targeting our infrastructure. This demonstrates that when the United States has the motive to really change the situation, the situation can change. pic.twitter.com/GwqcT3wLZ7
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 2, 2026
The trilateral talks resume in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, four days after Vladimir Putin’s top financial advisor Kirill Dmitriev met Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Miami.
Trump declared to reporters on Monday, “I think we’re doing very well with Ukraine and Russia. For the first time, I’m saying that. I think we’re going to, maybe, have some good news.”
