Ukrainian drones kill four in Russia as Kyiv hospital comes under attack
Caalamka
In a night marked by mass drone strikes and fresh civilian deaths on both sides, Russia claimed it repelled nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones, while Ukrainian officials reported a new wave of Russian attacks that set a hospital on fire and killed at least three people.
The violence followed a day of high-stakes diplomacy in US-led efforts to end the war as it nears its fifth year.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner spent hours in Moscow yesterday in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then flew on to Dublin for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences were tested overnight across a wide swath of the country.
“In the course of the previous night… aerial defence systems intercepted and destroyed 1,198” Ukrainian drones over more than 15 Russian regions, the ministry said in a statement.
In the southern Volgograd region, four people died while working in an industrial zone that includes an oil refinery and a chemical factory, local authorities said.
Ukraine, meanwhile, described another night of Russian aerial attacks that struck multiple cities and damaged civilian infrastructure.
In Kyiv, a hospital was hit and a fire broke out, forcing people to take shelter. One person was wounded.
Further south in Odesa, two people were killed and five wounded in the overnight barrage, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram, adding that “private residential houses and cars” were damaged.
In southeastern Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike killed a 17-year-old boy, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said.
Rescuers pulled four people from under the rubble with injuries, he added.
Another strike reached Rivne in Ukraine’s northwest — a region far from the front line — damaging a pre-school and wounding six people, including two children.
Over the past year-and-a-half, Ukraine has stepped up retaliatory drone attacks aimed at Russia’s energy industry, part of a campaign intended to squeeze Kremlin revenues and weaken Moscow’s ability to fund the war it launched in February 2022.
Russia has also focused heavy firepower on Ukraine’s own power system, with repeated aerial barrages hitting energy infrastructure and leaving people without electricity as temperatures fall.
Exiled Ukrainian political aide targeted in Moscow – media report
Separately, Russia’s Investigative Committee — the agency responsible for major crimes — said today it had opened an investigation into a car explosion in Moscow that Russian media said involved an exiled Ukrainian political aide.
Russian media reported the vehicle belonged to Sergei Zavorotniy, a former spokesman for ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Mr Zavorotniy has been living in Russia since he fled Ukraine during anti-government protests in 2014.
Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Mr Zavorotniy was hospitalised.
The incident is the latest in a string of apparent assassination attempts inside Russia. Yesterday, investigators said a member of the Russian military was killed when the car he was driving was blown up in St Petersburg.
