Russian forces have struck the city of Kamianske in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, killing five people and wounding another five, regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said.

The attack on Saturday took place as US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday carrying a proposal intended to help bring the war to an end.

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Putin said the matters facing him and the US representatives in the talks would be “difficult”, according to footage released through a Kremlin messaging channel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram message that he had briefly spoken with Witkoff and Kushner before their anticipated trip to Kyiv.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington had developed a new and specific proposal to end the conflict, now entering its fifth year. He gave no further details about its contents.

Earlier, Putin ordered a three-day pause in strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, beginning on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The announcement came only hours after Ukraine’s military was reportedly instructed to observe a three-day ceasefire starting at midnight on Saturday.

Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency said a local truce had been arranged to allow repairs aimed at restoring outside electricity to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine has lacked external power since August 20 and has been relying on emergency diesel generators to keep critical safety systems cooled.

‘Break’ from fighting

Ukrainska Pravda reported that the proposed pause for Ukrainian troops was due to begin at midnight on September 5 and continue until 23:59 on September 8.

“The military confirms that it has received a ceasefire order. The ceasefire applies everywhere: on land, in the air and at sea,” Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on Telegram late on Friday.

But Russian attacks reportedly continued across Ukraine during the night, according to Interfax Ukraine. Ukraine’s armed forces later clarified that they were not required to impose a temporary halt along the front because Russia had not ended its military operations.

“The Russians hit a civilian business in Kamianske, in the Dnipro region,” Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday.

“There were also deliberate Russian attacks on our airports overnight, in Kyiv and Boryspil,” he said. “It is clear that these airport strikes are connected to discussions about the possibility of the US side travelling to Ukraine by aircraft and landing at Kyiv Airport or Boryspil Airport. We have taken note of this action by Russia, and next week we will adjust our approach regarding Russian airspace accordingly.”

Beyond Kamianske, overnight attacks caused injuries elsewhere in Ukraine. In the Odesa region, three people were hurt, including a 17-year-old boy, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. In the southern city of Mykolaiv, a 17-year-old girl was injured when Russian drones struck a shopping centre.

In the Kyiv region, two women were injured and taken to hospital after a Russian strike hit a nine-storey apartment building in Boryspil, according to regional military administration head Tymur Tkachenko.

Civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen notably in recent months as Russia increasingly deploys jet-powered drones. These weapons travel at roughly half the speed of a passenger aircraft and are harder to shoot down than conventional propeller-driven drones.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces intercepted and destroyed 53 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight, including several over the Moscow area.

Ukraine has recently expanded its long-range drone programme, repeatedly targeting Russian oil facilities and warehouses used by online retailers. Kyiv hopes such strikes will pressure Russia’s economy and make the impact of the war more visible to the public.

Trump told reporters on Friday that a peace agreement in the conflict had remained out of reach because of what he called a “personality problem” between the two sides.

“President Zelenskyy and President Putin genuinely hate each other,” Trump said. “There is serious hatred, and it is standing in the way.”

Russian state news agency TASS reported that Witkoff and Kushner would remain in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday, in what would be their first visit there since January.

Zelenskyy said the two envoys would then travel to Ukraine on Sunday, their first visit to the country since Trump returned to office.