Ukraine war latest: US-Ukraine talks 'start constructively' - hours after Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow

'This war is not our fault': Hungary's plea as oil pipeline suspended after attack

More from Ukraine's overnight drone attack, Hungary's foreign minister has said an oil pipeline's supply to the country was suspended overnight.

Peter Szijjarto said in a video on Facebook that crude shipments were suspended on the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary after the drone attack.

He then went on to urge Ukraine "not to attack this infrastructure".

"This war is not our fault and Hungary is not responsible for this conflict," he said.

For context: Earlier, Ukraine's military said it struck a "number of strategic objects" during its drone attack on Russia, including an oil refinery in Moscow (see 1.33pm post).

The army said the refinery processes "40-50%" of Moscow's diesel and gasoline.

Russia's defence ministry said it managed to intercept or destroy 337 drones during the attack.

Number killed in Ukrainian strike on Kursk rises to five, governor says

The number of people killed in a Ukrainian strike on Russia's Kursk region has risen to five, according to a local governor.

Alexander Khinshtein had previously said three people were killed and nine were injured after the strike on a shopping centre in the village of Belaya.

Earlier, Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 337 Ukrainian drones in what appears to be the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia in three years (see 6.18am post).

It said the most drones - 126 - were shot down over the Kursk region, while 91 were shot down over the Moscow region.

Analysis: Russia feels it's got a strong hand ahead of Witkoff visit

Russia feels it has a strong hand ahead of Donald Trump's Middle East envoy visiting Moscow, our international correspondent Diana Magnay has said.

Steve Witkoff, Trump's geopolitical dealmaker-in-chief, is expected to travel to the Russian capital later this week (see 2.19pm post).

Ahead of that meeting, Magnay said Russia has "got the US on its side".

"Quite clearly, I imagine that Vladimir Putin doesn't feel that he needs to relax on any of his demands at this stage," she said.

"Even though we are seeing the beginning of negotiations, what we hear constantly from Marco Rubio is that this is just the start."

Magnay described the talks as a "long, difficult process" and said "I don't think you're going to see a stopping of the fighting anytime soon".

'Ukrainian resolve to stand for freedom is miraculous'

Russia's former foreign minister has praised Ukraine's resolve "to stand for freedom".

An outspoken critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Andrei Kozyrev was foreign minister under former president Boris Yeltsin from 1990-1996.

His outlook saw the Soviet Union push to no longer see NATO as a threat and pursue integration with the West.

Posting on X, he said "everyone in the free and brave world" must support Ukraine "in any way possible".

Eyewitness: Russians feared for their children - as Ukraine sent Moscow and Washington a message with drone strike damage

The first thing I noticed after arriving in Vidnoye, a suburb 15 miles south of the Kremlin and Moscow's centre, was the debris on the ground - smashed glass, clumps of what looked like loft insulation, and piles of crumpled metal railings.

The next thing was all the cracked and shattered windscreens, which people were patching up with bubble-wrap, bin-liners and tape.

And finally, I saw the cause of it all. At the top of the apartment block I was standing beneath were massive black scorch marks, spread across the outside of the building. 

At their centre were four empty window frames and a huge hole in the building's masonry. 

The smashed windscreens were the result of the falling debris, which volunteers were still clearing up as we arrived.

'I picked up my children and ran'

The building was hit by one of the Ukrainian drones that reached Moscow's outskirts in the early hours of Tuesday, in what was the largest attack of its kind since the war began.

For several hours afterwards, crowds of stunned locals continued to gather in the car park beneath, gazing up at the damage in a mixture of fear, relief and confusion.

"I'm still in shock," said Avusala, a young mother who lives in the block that was hit.

"I was very scared. I woke up at 5am because of a loud sound. I picked up my children and ran out."

This was just one of nearly 100 drones shot down over Moscow region, which the Kremlin said was evidence that Moscow's air defence system "worked well". But not everyone we spoke to in Vidnoye shared that optimism.

"The very fact that it was missed is unpleasant," said Oganes, 30, suggesting the scale of Ukraine's overall attack, which saw Russia shoot down 337 drones in total, should have been detected long before it was launched.

"I understand that it’s impossible to react to every single small attack and so on, but I’m sorry, this is 300 drones," he said.

Hope for peace talks progress - as Ukraine sends message

Moscow has cast the attacks as terrorism, accusing Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians. Kyiv denies the accusations, saying it only aims to hit war-related infrastructure, and that the attacks are in response to Russia's bombing of Ukraine.

"I want to hope that [peace talks] will lead to a final result, to the end of such barbaric actions," another resident, Olga, told us.

It certainly feels like Ukraine was trying to send a message with this attack. 

A message not just to Russia, but also to the United States.

That's because it came just hours before the crunch talks between Ukrainian and American officials in Saudi Arabia, and it follows what has been a tortuous few weeks for Kyiv.

Donald Trump's push for a peace deal has seen his administration try to force Ukraine into making concessions, with the US president saying recently that Russia "holds all the cards".

This felt like Ukraine was saying to the US that they're wrong. That Russia doesn't hold all the cards, that they can still cause Moscow problems, and that if they're forced to make concessions, then Russia should be too.

Steve Witkoff 'to visit Moscow' this week

Donald Trump's geopolitical dealmaker-in-chief is expected to travel to Moscow later this week, a source familiar with his plans has told our US partner NBC News.

Steve Witkoff was named as Trump's Middle East envoy shortly after the US election but has since been involved in negotiations with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine.

This source would not confirm precisely who Witkoff is meeting within the Russian capital, but other outlets are reporting he will meet directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

-SKY NEWS