Russian Drone Strike Kills Three in Southern Ukraine Ahead of US-Led Peace Talks
A Russian drone attack has killed three people in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, authorities said on Thursday, as Kyiv warned that Moscow is preparing another large-scale aerial assault despite plans for renewed U.S.-brokered peace talks.
Emergency officials said the overnight strike sparked a major fire in a residential apartment building in Zaporizhzhia. In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, firefighters battled multiple blazes through the night after separate attacks, while two people were reported injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said intelligence assessments indicate Russia is assembling forces for a fresh mass aerial barrage. Previous attacks have involved hundreds of drones alongside cruise and ballistic missiles, many of them targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“Every single Russian strike discredits the peace talks,” Zelenskyy said late Wednesday, accusing Moscow of undermining diplomatic efforts through continued attacks.
Russia has maintained daily bombardments of civilian areas far from the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, nearly four years after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The strikes have persisted despite international condemnation and attempts to bring the war to an end.
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are expected to resume on Sunday, though doubts remain over Russia’s willingness to reach a settlement. The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Russia was not taking the talks seriously and called for increased pressure on Moscow.
“We see them increasing their attacks on Ukraine because they can’t make moves on the battlefield. So they are attacking civilians,” Kallas told EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.
She stressed that Europe must be fully involved in any peace process, warning that the continent’s future security is at stake. While diplomatic efforts over the past year have been driven largely by the United States, European leaders fear their concerns may be sidelined.
An international think tank reported this week that the number of soldiers killed, wounded or missing on both sides could approach two million by spring, with Russia suffering the highest troop losses of any major power in a conflict since World War II.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said Russia launched more than 6,000 drones at Ukraine in the past month alone, adding that Moscow continues to refine its drone technology and tactics. He said Ukraine is adjusting its air defence strategy in response, without providing details.
