Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused the United States of delaying the handover of missiles that European countries have already paid for, according to Corriere della Sera. His complaint came as Russian overnight strikes on Ukraine killed at least four people, and as a US envoy was expected in Oslo for talks on a possible peace plan.
Zelensky is due in the Norwegian capital on Tuesday, the Norwegian government announced. According to Axios, he is expected to meet Steve Witkoff, the US presidential envoy, during the visit.
Why it matters
The trip comes at what Oslo described as a critical moment for Ukraine, and it puts two tracks of the war side by side: diplomacy aimed at ending the conflict, and the daily toll of attacks on Ukrainian towns and roads.
Zelensky's public criticism of Washington points to strain in a partnership Kyiv has depended on throughout the war. According to Corriere della Sera, he said restrictions on intelligence sharing and reduced Starlink speeds are no longer threats but facts on the ground, and that this treatment is unfair to Ukraine. He said Kyiv remains grateful to the American people and to President Donald Trump's team, but that partners must deal honestly with one another.
Deadly night across several regions
Ukrainian authorities reported at least four deaths in the overnight air raids, three of them in the Kyiv region. In the city of Obukhiv, south of the capital, three people were killed and six wounded when a strike hit a building housing production facilities and a warehouse and set it on fire, emergency services said. The blaze was extinguished and clearance work was under way, they added.
In the south-east, one person died and five were injured in attacks on Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding region, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the local military administration.
A separate drone attack struck the Kyiv-Odessa highway, said Timur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv police department. He described it as another attack on civilians who were simply on their way to work, and said cars were burning on the road. Prosecutors said three people were killed and four wounded, a toll they said was still being updated. The strike hit the village of Chabany, near a shopping centre, and traffic was halted while emergency crews worked at the scene.
Oslo talks and a possible Moscow trip
The Norwegian government said Zelensky had asked Norway and Finland to organise the meeting as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts. It named Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb as his counterparts, without mentioning other participants.
Axios, citing a US official, reported that Witkoff would meet Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo to work on a peace proposal to put to Russia. The talks are expected to include Store, representatives of the E4 group — the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland — and officials from the European Union and NATO.
According to the same reporting, Witkoff intends to travel on to Russia afterwards to present Vladimir Putin with proposals developed in consultation with Kyiv and European partners. Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner discussed progress and next negotiating steps with Zelensky on Sunday; Kushner will take part remotely from Oslo because he has flu.
The consultations follow meetings in the Miami area, where Zelensky undertook to review and advance a set of proposals for a comprehensive and lasting settlement. The White House says the joint work by US, Ukrainian and European representatives runs along two lines: securing a sovereign, secure and prosperous future for Ukraine, with firm security guarantees, European integration and an economic framework for the post-war period; and agreeing with Moscow the conditions to end the conflict, build a durable new security order between Russia and Europe, and explore economic cooperation.
The trip is also expected to include efforts to secure the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher whom Washington considers wrongly detained in Russia. The US official cautioned that negotiations are still fluid and much work remains, while stressing that Trump's goal is to stop the killing and create conditions for a lasting peace.
Starlink losses and a cheaper interceptor
The war's technological dimension was on display too. Russian drones destroyed 40 Starlink terminals in Kharkiv over the course of a month, according to Corriere del Ticino, and Zelensky raised the Starlink problem in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ANSA reported.
Il Messaggero reported on a new Ukrainian weapon against Russian Shahed drones: interceptors costing about 10,000 dollars each, which the paper said are roughly six times cheaper than Stinger missiles. Separately, a Russian military source claimed that more than 200 Ukrainian drone crews had been destroyed, Agenzia Dire reported.
A warning from Berlin
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Bloomberg that Russia's aims go beyond territorial gains in Ukraine and that Moscow is trying to destabilise Europe's political order and weaken the continent's democracies. He warned against underestimating the threat, saying many Europeans, including in Germany, do not fully grasp the Kremlin's objectives.
What to watch next is whether the Oslo meetings produce a proposal Witkoff can carry to Moscow, and whether the missile deliveries Zelensky says Europe has already paid for actually move.
