A Russian drone attack on a busy market in eastern Ukraine killed five people and wounded 19, as intensified strikes hit civilian areas across the country.
NIKOPOL: A Russian drone struck a covered market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday.
Regional governor Oleksandr Ganja said the attack killed five people and wounded 19 others.
The strike hit at 9:50 am local time, according to the local prosecutor’s office. Ganja confirmed those killed were three women and two men.
A 14-year-old girl was among the wounded and was listed in critical condition. The Ukrainian air force reported Russia launched 286 drones overnight, with 260 intercepted.
Separate attacks wounded civilians in multiple regions. Five people were injured in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the front line.
Regional police said 11 people were wounded in the northern Sumy region from strikes on residential areas. Three more were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region, including a five-month-old baby and a six-year-old boy.
In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region killed one person. Regional governor Yuri Slyussar said four others were seriously wounded in the city of Taganrog.
Slyussar said three local residents and a foreigner were in critical condition. He added that a foreign cargo ship on the Sea of Azov was damaged by falling drone debris and caught fire.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A Ukrainian official said the discussions would focus on security cooperation.
Zelensky this week signalled readiness for a truce over the Easter holidays. The Kremlin responded that it had not received “clearly formulated” proposals.
Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory. Talks mediated by the United States have been stalled by the conflict in the Middle East.
In comments published on Friday, Zelensky said he invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations. “The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow,” he told reporters.
Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones. Zelensky recently visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz. Zelensky cited Kyiv’s experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked.
