Moscow targets Kiev with drones ahead of truce talks

KIEV

At least three people were killed, including a five-year-old child, after Russia launched a barrage of drones targeting Kiev overnight Sunday, according to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services.

The attack on the Ukrainian capital came ahead of ceasefire negotiations in Saudi Arabia in which Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold indirect U.S.-mediated talks today to discuss a pause in long-range attacks targeting energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.

The Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia a day ahead of the indirect talks, Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelensky said. Ukraine is planning to send technical teams to discuss the details of the partial ceasefire.

Moscow is hoping to achieve "some progress" at talks itoday, a Russian negotiator told state media.

"We hope to achieve at least some progress," Russian senator Grigory Karasin, who will lead the Russian delegation, told the Zvezda TV channel, without specifying on what issue.

He said he and fellow negotiator, FSB advisor Sergey Beseda would take a "combative and constructive" mood into the talks.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP a day earlier that Kiev hopes to secure agreement "at least" on a partial ceasefire covering attacks on energy, infrastructure and at sea. Kiev is sending its defense minister to the negotiations.

Russia launched 147 drones across Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 97 and 25 others didn't reach targets due to Ukrainian countermeasures. The attacks also struck Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions.

Extended sounds of explosions were heard in the early hours of the night as the air raid blared for over five hours. Russian drones and debris from shot-down drones, which were flying at lower altitudes to evade air defenses, fell on residential buildings. Ukraine's Kiev City Military Administration said three people were killed and 10 others were injured.

Two residential buildings in the district of Dnipro caught fire due to falling drone debris, according to Kiev City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. A fire broke out on the top floors of a 9-storey building, killing one woman, the State Emergency Service said.

In the district of Podil, a fire broke out on the 20th floor of a 25-storey building. In Holosiivskyi, fires broke out in a warehouse and office building, killing one person, according to the State Emergency Service.

Also yesterday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the region of Rostov and 20 more over southwestern Astrakhan. In Rostov, one person was killed and a car caught fire due to the Ukrainian drone attack, according to the area’s temporary governor, Yuri Slyusar.