The Russians massively bombarded Ukraine with hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles all night before the Zelensky-Trump meeting. Strong explosions in Kyiv

Kyiv was the target of a massive ballistic missile attack overnight Friday into Saturday after Russia launched several Kinjal hypersonic missiles, four Iskander ballistic missiles and a group of Kalibr cruise missiles at the capital, monitoring channels reported, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Other regions of Ukraine were attacked with missiles and drones on Saturday morning, a day before what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as a key meeting with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year war.

Several loud explosions were heard in the capital, according to The Kyiv Independent reporters on the scene, as well as in the Kyiv region, where power outages were reported in the small town of Brovary and surrounding areas following the attacks. Brovary is located about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) northeast of Kiev.

During the explosions in Kiev, Ukrainian air defense units swung into action and the military announced on the Telegram messaging app that missiles had been fired. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the north-east and south of the country.

The air raid alert remained in effect in the capital for about four hours after it was announced.

Before the overnight attacks, Zelenskiy said his talks in Florida on Sunday would focus on the territory each side would control after the end of fighting that began in February 2022 with President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Russia's tiny neighbor, Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

Control of territories

Moscow had no immediate comment on the attacks.

On Thursday evening, Russia struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure and stepped up attacks on the southern Odessa region, home to Ukraine's main seaports.

Amid the intense fighting that continues, the issue of territories remains the main diplomatic obstacle. A 20-point draft of US-led efforts to conclude a peace plan is 90 percent complete, Zelenskiy told reporters in Kiev.

He said an agreement on a security guarantee between the US and Ukraine was almost ready – a key element after the guarantees of the post-Soviet years proved meaningless.

“Many things can be decided before the New Year,” Zelenskiy said on Thursday.

Trump has stated that the United States is the driving force behind this process.

“He doesn't have anything until I approve,” Trump told Politico. “So we'll see what he has.”

Zelenskiy told the American publication Axios that the US offered a 15-year agreement on security guarantees, with the possibility of renewal, but Kiev wanted a longer-term agreement with binding legal provisions to protect itself against further aggression from Russia.

Trump also said he was confident Sunday's meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Florida would go well. He also said he expects to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “soon, as much as I want.”

Other hot points of the negotiations

Apart from territorial issues, a critical point in the negotiations is control of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, occupied by Russian forces in the first weeks of the war.

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from areas in the eastern Donetsk region that Russian troops have failed to capture in their bid to capture the entire Donbas province, which includes the Luhansk region.

Kiev wants an end to fighting on the current front lines.

Under a US-proposed compromise, a free economic zone would be created if Ukraine were to leave parts of the Donetsk region, although details have yet to be determined.

Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying that if he failed to convince the US to support Ukraine's “firm” position on the territory issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum, provided Russia agreed to a 60-day truce to allow Ukraine to prepare and hold the vote.

He said he wants more pressure on Russia.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Kiev's version of the 20-point plan differed from the one discussed by Russia with the US, according to the Interfax-Russia news agency.

However, he expressed optimism that things had reached a “tipping point” in the search for a solution.

Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov spoke with members of the Trump administration after Moscow received US proposals on the new version of the peace plan, the Kremlin said on Friday. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, did not reveal how Moscow assessed the documents, however.