Sawt Falasteen - Russia hammers Kyiv as talks over US plan rumble on

Negotiators from the United States, Ukraine and Russia were all due in Abu Dhabi, US and British media reported, days after President Donald Trump tabled a 28-point plan that would enshrine most of Russia's hardline demands.

People crowded into Kyiv's deep metro stations overnight amid the attack, setting up sleeping bags, tents and camping chairs, AFP reporters saw.

Powerful explosions rocked the city beginning around 1:00 am (2300 GMT), while thick smoke, illuminated red and orange by the fire from Ukrainian air defence, covered parts of Kyiv as Russian missiles and drones flew towards the capital.

Fires raged in multi-storey apartment blocks hit in the strikes, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said killed six people.

Elderly locals scooped up their belongings and draped themselves in blankets and coats after being evacuated in the middle of the night.

Ukrainian officials slammed the Russian attack as a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin's unwillingness to end the war, launched by his February 2022 invasion.

"Putin gave his terrorist response to the United States' and President Trump's peace proposals. With a barrage of missiles and drones against Ukraine," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.

Russia fired 464 drones and 22 missiles at Ukraine in the overnight barrage, Kyiv's air force said.

Ukraine also fired almost 250 drones at Russia overnight, Moscow's defence said, killing three people in the southern border region of Rostov in what the governor of nearby Krasnodar called one of the "most sustained and massive attacks" of the war.

- Deadline -

Trump initially gave Kyiv until November 27 -- the American holiday of Thanksgiving -- to respond to his proposal to end the fighting, a timeline and blueprint that European leaders baulked at.

A senior source briefed on the matter said it would "become clear" on Tuesday whether that deadline still holds.

Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said Tuesday that Kyiv was pushing for a meeting between Zelensky and Trump "at the earliest possible date in November to finalise the remaining stages and reach an agreement".

Kyiv and its allies spent the weekend hammering away at Washington's plan, which initially required Ukraine to cede territory, cut its military and pledge never to join NATO.

An updated version, aiming to "uphold Ukraine's sovereignty", was thrashed out at emergency talks in Geneva, but has not been published.

Washington, Europe and Kyiv have all hailed the progress made, however.

Putin had welcomed Trump's plan as a possible basis for a peace deal, and the Kremlin has called changes proposed by the EU "not constructive".

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow was expecting the United States to send it any updated version.

- 'Capitulation' -

Countries supporting Kyiv are due to hold a video call Tuesday.

"We must be cognisant that Russia will not ease its pressure on Ukraine," Zelensky said ahead of the meeting.

France's Emmanuel Macron warned against any "capitulation" by Kyiv.

"The only question we don't have an answer to is whether Russia is ready to make a lasting peace," he said in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

Putin has threatened to seize more Ukrainian territory if Kyiv walks away from the negotiations.

Russia's military already occupies around a fifth of Ukraine -- much of it ravaged by years of fighting.

Tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed since Russia launched the invasion. Millions have fled the east of the country, their homes and cities destroyed.

The United States had bypassed Europe with the original plan, and many EU governments were unsettled by the prospect of ending the war on Moscow's terms.

The White House has pushed back on criticism that Trump was favouring Russia, calling it a "complete and total fallacy".

Ivan Zadontsev, a sergeant in the Ukrainian army, gave the talks a cautious welcome.

"This is healthy thought about negotiations. We also are getting tired of war; we need a break," he told AFP.

But the proposals by both the United States and EU "do not serve Ukraine's national interests," he said.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST