Zelenskyy Says Ukraine to Meet Russia, U.S. in November

Ukraine came under almost 2,300 strike drones over the past week, along with about 1,600 guided bombs and 48 missiles of various types, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday. He renewed his request that western allies deliver interceptors faster.

A three-way meeting involving Kyiv, Washington and Moscow is planned for November, Zelenskyy said in an interview on Sunday. He said the session aims to restart Russia-Ukraine peace talks that have stalled. "We are ready to talk. If it's a territorial issue, it must be addressed at a leadership level," Zelenskyy said. He added that other matters belong to technical groups and that all of it can be discussed in November.

Zelenskyy again called for a meeting with Vladimir Putin, saying he believes Putin is the only person in Russia who can make major decisions to end the war. At the November meeting, Ukraine will not discuss caps on the size of its armed forces or a required postwar neutrality, he said. Ukraine has long sought NATO membership despite hesitation from some member states.

Separately, Zelenskyy said U.S. warnings about imminent Russian ballistic missile strikes, which Ukraine's air defenses rely on, have been fully restored. He told Ukraine's TSN television channel that SpaceX's Starshield satellite internet had been running at speeds of up to 420km/h since early Saturday, after a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo. Starshield had been throttled earlier in October amid U.S. pressure on Kyiv.

The United States has pressed Ukraine to pause strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Washington says push energy prices higher. Zelenskyy has set three conditions for stopping those strikes: Moscow halting attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure, U.S. permission to use Starshield over Russia to locate ballistic missile launch sites, or delivery of Patriot missiles.

Russian forces struck a cargo vessel headed for the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk overnight and another cargo vessel en route to Odesa during the day, Russia's defence ministry said Sunday. The ministry said the ships supplied the Ukrainian army. Russian forces also hit a logistics centre, a distribution centre and a logistics terminal in Kharkiv overnight. Reuters could not confirm those reports.

A Ukrainian drone attack overnight on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed three people and injured 13, regional governor Alexander Shuvayev said Sunday. A separate strike later that day killed one more person, and 30 apartment buildings were damaged in the overnight attack.

Bulgaria's presidential election on Sunday ended without a winner, sending the contest to a runoff. Reformist opposition candidate Andrey Gyurov will face incumbent Iliana Yotova, who opposes military aid to Ukraine and favors dialogue with Russia. Gyurov has backed Kyiv. The vote took place after a series of drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea.