On the 1,135th day of a war that has yet to yield a single hour of agreed silence, Russia's missiles fell on Kryvyi Rig and its drones swarmed Kharkiv, while in Washington a Kremlin envoy sat across from American officials for the first time since the full-scale invasion began. The Trump administration, which has suspended sanctions to enable this meeting and quietly excluded Russia from sweeping new tariffs, is testing whether commerce and diplomacy can be threaded through the eye of an active war. History has seen such contradictions before — the handshake and the bombardment occurring in th
Trump officials meet Putin's investment envoy as Russia escalates Ukraine strikes
At least 4 killed and 14 wounded in Kryvyi Rig missile strike; 5 wounded in Kharkiv drone attacks; 1 killed in Zaporizhzhia strike.
The gap between private channels and the battlefield had never been wider
Mark
So Putin's investment envoy is in Washington while missiles are still falling on Ukrainian cities. How does that even happen?
Mimi
The Trump administration suspended the sanctions that were blocking him specifically so he could make the trip. It signals they're willing to engage with Russia on economic matters even while the war continues.
Luke
But we don't actually know what was discussed in that meeting, right? The reporting says it's unclear.
Mimi
That's correct. The meeting happened, but the substance of it hasn't been made public.
Mark
And meanwhile Ukraine gets hit with tariffs but Russia doesn't make the tariff list at all?
Mimi
Right. The administration excluded Russia from the new tariff announcement, which is notable given the ongoing war. At the same time, fifty senators from both parties are proposing much harsher tariffs—500 percent—on countries buying Russian fuel and uranium.
Luke
So there's real disagreement within the government on how to handle Russia economically.
Mimi
There appears to be. The administration is exploring one path while Congress is pushing another.
Mark
What about the actual fighting? Is it getting worse?
Mimi
The strikes on Wednesday were significant. Missiles in Kryvyi Rig killed at least four people, drones hit Kharkiv repeatedly, and there were strikes in other cities too. This is day 1,135 of the war.
Luke
And Ukraine offered a ceasefire?
Mimi
An unconditional thirty-day general ceasefire. Russia rejected it. The Trump administration hasn't delivered on its promise to broker a deal quickly.
El Pulso
- Russian ballistic missiles killed at least four civilians and wounded fourteen in Kryvyi Rig — Zelenskyy's own hometown — while seventeen Shahed drones tore through Kharkiv in a single hour, making the human cost of the war viscerally present even as diplomats exchanged pleasantries.
- For the first time since 2022, a senior Kremlin official sat in Washington under lifted sanctions, signaling that the Trump administration is willing to suspend the rules of isolation to explore business with Moscow while the war continues.
- The administration's tariff list pointedly excluded Russia while levying a 10 percent charge on Ukraine, a quiet asymmetry that fifty bipartisan senators sought to counter by proposing 500 percent tariffs on nations still buying Russian fuel and uranium.
- Ukraine has offered an unconditional thirty-day ceasefire; Russia has rejected it; NATO has pledged over twenty billion euros in military aid in the year's first quarter alone — the alliance and the back-channel are pulling in opposite directions.
- A domestic corruption scandal added another layer of strain, with five suspects including a former defence ministry official accused of embezzling millions from military food contracts and investing the proceeds in Croatian hotels.
On the 1,135th day of a war that has yet to yield a single hour of agreed silence, Russia's missiles fell on Kryvyi Rig and its drones swarmed Kharkiv, while in Washington a Kremlin envoy sat across from American officials for the first time since the full-scale invasion began. The Trump administration, which has suspended sanctions to enable this meeting and quietly excluded Russia from sweeping new tariffs, is testing whether commerce and diplomacy can be threaded through the eye of an active war. History has seen such contradictions before — the handshake and the bombardment occurring in the same afternoon — and it has rarely resolved them cleanly.
On Wednesday, as Russian missiles struck Kryvyi Rig and drones lit up the night sky over Kharkiv, Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev sat down with American officials in Washington — the highest-ranking Russian to visit on state business since the full-scale invasion began. The Trump administration had suspended sanctions against him simply to allow the meeting to take place. What was said remains undisclosed, but the gesture itself carried meaning: a new American administration is quietly testing whether there is business to be done with Moscow.
The human cost that same day was unambiguous. A ballistic missile killed at least four people and wounded fourteen in Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rig, igniting fires and triggering rescue operations. A forty-five-year-old man had already been killed in Zaporizhzhia that morning. By evening, seventeen Shahed drones had swept through Kharkiv in under an hour, wounding five in one district and one more in the nearby town of Derhachi.
The diplomatic and battlefield realities could hardly have been more misaligned. Russia was conspicuously absent from the administration's sweeping new tariff list, while Ukraine was hit with a 10 percent levy. Fifty senators from both parties proposed a sharper instrument: 500 percent tariffs on any country still purchasing Russian fuel or uranium. Ukraine, for its part, offered an unconditional thirty-day ceasefire. Russia declined.
NATO was moving in a different direction entirely. Secretary General Mark Rutte announced more than twenty billion euros in military support delivered to Ukraine in the first three months of the year, with foreign ministers set to meet in Brussels to discuss further aid. Secretary of State Rubio was due to attend, alongside the newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO.
Treasury Secretary Bessent suggested a Ukrainian delegation could arrive in Washington within days. Meanwhile, both sides accused each other of striking energy infrastructure in violation of a moratorium that, in fact, no formal agreement had ever established. The war entered its 1,135th day with no ceasefire, a corruption scandal inside Ukraine's own defence establishment, and a gap between Washington's private overtures and the ground truth in Ukrainian cities that had perhaps never been wider.
On Wednesday, as Russian missiles tore through Kryvyi Rig and drone barrages lit up the sky over Kharkiv, Vladimir Putin's investment envoy sat down with officials in Washington. Kirill Dmitriev, the highest-ranking Russian official to visit the United States on state business since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, arrived under suspended sanctions—the Trump administration had to lift restrictions on him just to allow the meeting to happen. What was discussed remains unclear, but the timing sent a signal: even as the war grinds on, the new American administration is exploring the possibility of doing business with Moscow.
The human toll that day was immediate and concrete. In Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rig, a ballistic missile strike killed at least four people and wounded fourteen others. The blast hit civilian infrastructure and sparked a large fire that forced a rescue operation. Hours earlier, a forty-five-year-old man had been killed in Zaporizhzhia when a Russian strike hit cars parked outside a house. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Russian forces unleashed seventeen Shahed drones in an hour-long barrage late Wednesday evening. Five people were wounded in one district that same day; another strike on the town of Derhachi, northwest of the city, injured one person. A drone hit Cherkaska Lozova outside Kharkiv and set a fire.
The contrast between the diplomatic overture and the battlefield reality was stark. The Trump administration had notably excluded Russia from an expansive new tariff list released Wednesday, even as it slapped Ukraine with a 10 percent levy. Meanwhile, a group of fifty Republican and Democratic senators was proposing a different approach: 500 percent tariffs on imports from countries that continue buying fuel and uranium from Russia, a move aimed at pressuring nations friendly to Moscow to abandon their support. The administration has not yet delivered on the president's stated goal of brokering a ceasefire in as little as twenty-four hours. Ukraine, for its part, has offered an unconditional thirty-day general ceasefire. Russia rejected it.
NATO, meanwhile, was moving in the opposite direction from the Washington back-channel. The alliance had pledged more than twenty billion euros in military support for Ukraine in the first three months of the year, according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Foreign ministers from member states were scheduled to meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss further assistance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to arrive Thursday, bringing with him Matt Whitaker, the newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO.
The Treasury Department signaled that a Ukrainian delegation might arrive in the United States as soon as that week or the following one, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television. The war, now in its 1,135th day, showed no signs of slowing. Ukrainian authorities also announced on Wednesday that they had accused five suspects—including a former defence ministry department head—of involvement in a military procurement scandal. The five were accused of inflating prices on food orders for troops and embezzling millions of dollars between August and December 2022. The embezzled funds, authorities alleged, had been used in part to purchase properties abroad, including hotels in Croatia. The suspects received notices of suspicion that could lead to formal indictment for embezzlement and money laundering.
Russia and Ukraine also accused each other Wednesday of new attacks against energy facilities, each side citing a supposed US-brokered moratorium on such strikes. No formal agreement exists between the two countries on the matter. The gap between what the Trump administration was exploring in private channels and what was happening on the ground in Ukraine had never been wider.
Citas Notables
Russia attacked civilian infrastructure, sparking a large fire, and a rescue operation was launched— Oleksandr Vikul, head of Kryvyi Rig's military administration, describing the missile strike
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