Moscow Signals Return To Ukraine Peace Talks After Massive Drone Barrage

The Kremlin said Monday that the Ukraine peace process is currently on pause but insisted negotiations are expected to resume even as Russia reeled from what officials described as the largest drone attack on the Moscow region in more than a year.

The Associated Press noted that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to comments by President Donald Trump, who suggested Friday that recent Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, including one that killed 24 people in an apartment building, may have set back diplomatic efforts to end the war.

“The peace process is paused, but we expect it to resume,” Peskov told reporters. He also argued that attention should be focused on Ukrainian attacks against civilian targets inside Russia.

The remarks came after Ukraine launched a sweeping overnight drone operation targeting Moscow and other Russian regions over the weekend. Russian authorities said air defenses destroyed hundreds of drones, while at least three people were killed in the Moscow region.

Russian officials said a woman died after a drone struck her home in Khimki, northwest of Moscow, while two men were killed in the nearby village of Pogorelki. Authorities in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, also reported the death of a truck driver after a drone strike.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 12 people were wounded in the capital during the overnight barrage, most near the entrance to the city’s oil refinery. He said refinery operations and “technology” were not damaged.

Russia’s Sheremetyevo Airport, the country’s busiest airport, later confirmed that drone debris had fallen onto airport grounds without damaging infrastructure or disrupting flights. The Indian Embassy in Moscow also reported that an Indian worker died during a drone strike in the Moscow region and that three other Indian nationals were hospitalized.

Russian officials did not immediately clarify whether the death was included in the previously reported toll. Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses destroyed 556 drones overnight across Russia, occupied Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas. By midday Sunday, Russian authorities claimed that more than 1,000 drones had either been shot down or electronically jammed within 24 hours.

Russian state agency Tass, citing Sobyanin, reported that 81 drones were specifically aimed at Moscow, making it one of the largest attacks on the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly acknowledged the operation and defended it as retaliation for Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukrainian cities. “Our responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and attacks on our cities and communities are entirely justified,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the drones traveled more than 500 kilometers from Ukrainian territory and successfully penetrated heavily concentrated Russian air defenses around Moscow.”

This time, Ukrainian long-distance sanctions have reached the Moscow region,” Zelenskyy added. “Their state must end its war.” The strikes came days after Russia ended a brief and shaky Victory Day ceasefire linked to annual celebrations commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Both sides accused each other of repeatedly violating the pause in fighting. Nigel Gould Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told The Associated Press that Ukraine’s operation appeared to be direct retaliation for Russia’s deadly strikes on Kyiv earlier this month.

“It brings home the fact Ukraine has the capacity to strike at a very significant scale at or around the Russian capital,” he said. Davies argued the attacks are likely increasing anxiety inside Russia as the war stretches into its fourth year. He pointed to a combination of battlefield setbacks, growing economic strain, and tighter Kremlin control over the internet and domestic dissent.

At the same time, Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign is increasingly targeting Russian oil infrastructure deep inside the country. Several attacks in recent weeks have struck facilities tied to Russia’s energy exports, producing smoke plumes visible from satellite imagery and raising environmental concerns near Black Sea resort areas.

Higher global oil prices tied to tensions involving Iran, along with limited sanctions relief affecting Russian exports, have helped stabilize Kremlin revenues despite the growing reach of Ukrainian strikes.