Ukraine sets November date for trilateral peace summit with Russia and US

Ukraine has confirmed that a three-way meeting with the United States and Russia will be held in November to restart stalled peace negotiations. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the timeline on Sunday, stating that Kyiv is prepared to discuss territorial matters at the leadership level. He noted that other technical issues can be handled by specialized working groups during the same period.

The Ukrainian president reiterated his position that the November summit should not include discussions on limiting Ukraine’s armed forces or imposing postwar neutrality. Kyiv continues to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a goal that has faced hesitation from some alliance members in the past. Zelenskyy also renewed his request for a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that Putin is the sole figure in Moscow with the authority to make decisive moves to end the conflict.

On the military front, Zelenskyy reported that Russia launched nearly 2,300 strike drones at Ukrainian cities over the past week. In a written update, he detailed that this figure included about 1,600 guided bombs and 48 missiles of various types, including ballistic missiles. He urged Western allies to accelerate the delivery of interceptor systems to counter the escalating aerial threat.

Ukraine’s access to critical communication infrastructure has also been restored. Zelenskyy told the TSN television channel that SpaceX’s Starshield satellite internet has been operating at speeds of up to 420 kilometers per hour since early Saturday. This follows a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo. The service had been slowed down earlier in October due to diplomatic pressure from Washington regarding ongoing strikes.

The United States has been urging Ukraine to pause attacks on Russian oil refineries, which American officials say are driving up global energy prices. Zelenskyy maintained that Kyiv will only suspend these strikes if Russia halts its own attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure, or if the US grants permission to use Starshield over Russia to detect missile launches, or provides additional Patriot missile systems.

Russian forces continued to target logistics and transport hubs. The Russian defense ministry claimed on Sunday that its drones hit two cargo vessels bound for the Black Sea ports of Chornomorsk and Odesa. The ministry stated the ships were supplying the Ukrainian army. Russian forces also struck a logistics center, a distribution center, and a logistics terminal in Kharkiv during the night. Ukrainian officials confirmed a separate drone attack on the border city of Belgorod killed three people and injured 13, while damaging 30 apartment buildings.

In Bulgaria, a presidential election held on Sunday resulted in a tie between incumbent leftist Iliana Yotova and opposition candidate Andrey Gyurov. The vote will be decided in a runoff. Yotova has favored dialogue with Russia and opposed military aid to Ukraine, while Gyurov has expressed strong support for Kyiv. The election took place against a backdrop of security concerns following recent drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea.