Kyiv Death Toll Hits Nine as NATO Scrambles Jets, Trump Welcomes Russian Finance Minister to G20

Since Russian strikes on Kyiv entered their sixth consecutive night early Tuesday, the confirmed death toll from that single barrage has climbed to nine, according to Ukrainian emergency services cited by Republic World and Modern Diplomacy. Early wire reports from The Independent had put the number at "at least four" before Ukrainian officials updated the count Tuesday morning as rescue crews finished searching wreckage.

Eight of the nine dead were in Kyiv itself, including three children, Ukrainian emergency services said. A ninth person died in Boryspil, in the wider Kyiv region, after missiles and drones hit an apartment building and a business facility, according to Governor Tymur Tkachenko. Another nine people, including a child, were wounded in that strike alone. Over a dozen people were injured citywide.

The attack combined missiles and drones and forced NATO's Baltic air policing mission to scramble fighter jets, the mission said. Finland and Latvia restricted air and maritime traffic near Russian territory as the strikes unfolded, and Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna thanked NATO on social media platform X for reacting "swiftly and exactly as planned." A separate Russian strike disrupted the Orlivka border crossing into Romania, a NATO and EU member, on the Danube River.

Ukraine hit back overnight, with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin saying more than a dozen drones were shot down before reaching the Russian capital. Russian officials in the Leningrad region, home to major export ports, reported air defenses firing on drones near Ust-Luga.

Ukraine Says Russia's 'Invincible' Missile Isn't What Moscow Claims

On Monday, Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the GUR, published a technical breakdown of Russia's 3M22 Zircon missile, according to Business Insider. The disclosure named the manufacturer, NPO Mashinostroyeniya, along with more than 70 companies and dozens of individuals tied to its production, including some using components from American suppliers.

The GUR's assessment challenges Russia's own description of the weapon. Moscow calls it a hypersonic cruise missile capable of Mach 9. Ukrainian intelligence classifies it as a two-stage ballistic missile with a real-world top speed of Mach 6.8. Yehor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's national security committee, told Business Insider that Russia has leaned harder on ballistic weapons and jet-powered drones since Ukraine started shooting down more than 90% of incoming cruise missiles and propeller-driven drones.

Stubb Says China Privately Promised to Block Russian Nuclear Use

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Tuesday he has received private assurances from Beijing that China would not allow Russia to use nuclear weapons. Speaking to Paul Ronzheimer of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, Stubb said he raised the issue directly with China's foreign minister during a visit this summer. "He said, we will never allow it to happen. And I think that's a pretty good deterrence," Stubb said. The claim has not been independently confirmed by Beijing in public remarks.

Separately, Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes this year have destroyed roughly a million school textbooks in attacks on publishing houses, complicating deliveries as Ukrainian classes were due to resume Tuesday. Ukraine's education ministry said schools with air raid shelters can hold in-person classes, with online instruction as a backup.

Trump Lets Russia Sit at the G20 Table Over EU Objections

At the G20 finance ministers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the Trump administration treated Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov as a normal participant, his first in-person appearance at the forum since 2022. European delegates objected. German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the decision "troubling," and other EU officials reportedly threatened to skip the traditional "family photo" unless Siluanov was excluded, forcing him out of the shot, according to the Washington Post.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a bilateral meeting with Siluanov, where the two discussed financial cooperation and G20 coordination, Moscow said. U.S. officials said Bessent also raised Trump's Ukraine settlement plan but made clear Washington would not offer Moscow economic relief before hostilities end. Trump, asked about the visit in the Oval Office, brushed off the criticism: "We're going to see what happens, but we like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I'm so successful, I get along with everybody."

European officials' underlying concern is that normalizing Russia's presence in international forums undercuts the diplomatic isolation campaign built since 2022. Trump has argued the opposite for years, saying excluding Russia from the G8 in 2014 was a mistake that helped set up the current war. Neither claim can be tested against outcomes yet, since Washington says no sanctions relief is on the table until fighting stops.

On the peace track, Zelensky said Monday he held a "detailed and constructive" call with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to finalize dates for a Kyiv visit aimed at advancing negotiations. No date has been publicly announced. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately told Putin the war needed to end "for humanity's sake," to which Putin responded that Moscow was "moving forward along this path," according to Republic World. What that path actually means remains undefined, and Russian strikes on Kyiv have continued nightly regardless.