OMM Newsroom
At least six people were killed as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over airstrikes on Friday, two days after US-mediated peace talks between the countries concluded in Abu Dhabi, Anadolu Agency reported.
In Russia’s Volgograd region, Governor Andrey Bocharov said debris from Ukrainian drones intercepted overnight fell at an enterprise in the regional capital’s southern industrial zone and nearby areas, causing localized fires. He initially reported no casualties or damage to residential infrastructure, but later said four people had been killed and two injured.
In Svetly Yar, windows and balconies were damaged in three five-storey residential buildings and a youth centre, Bocharov said. He reported no casualties there and said municipal authorities had been instructed to assess the damage and carry out cleanup and repairs.
Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said one person was injured after drone debris damaged buildings and other sites in Rostov-on-Don and several districts of the region. The affected infrastructure included residential buildings, a production facility and a warehouse.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 467 drones were downed as they headed towards the Moscow region between 1500GMT on Thursday and 0500GMT on Friday. He said 144 were intercepted as they approached the capital.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had downed 1,198 Ukrainian drones across 17 regions, as well as over the Black Sea and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
Ukraine reports casualties and damage
Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down 80 of the 117 attack drones launched by Russia overnight.
In Kyiv, one person was injured after Russian attacks damaged a hospital in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district, the local department of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said. Hospital staff evacuated 30 people to a safe location, while DSNS rescuers rescued seven others. A fire at the hospital was extinguished, it said.
Rivne Governor Oleksandr Koval said six people were injured in the northwestern region after a drone hit a multi-storey building in the regional capital.
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said one person was killed and five injured in his region after a Russian strike damaged residential buildings and passenger cars. Rescuers and other services were working at the scene, he said.
Authorities in the Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions also reported damage from overnight strikes. Zaporizhzhia authorities said a 17-year-old boy had been killed.
Claims by Russia and Ukraine could not be independently verified because of the ongoing war.
Strikes follow Abu Dhabi peace talks
The overnight attacks came two days after US-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and Wednesday. The discussions produced plans for a large-scale prisoner exchange, with details still under discussion.
The trilateral negotiations were the first since February, when Russian, Ukrainian and US representatives met in Geneva, Switzerland. That meeting followed two rounds of peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who represented Washington at the Abu Dhabi talks, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Later that evening, they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin.
Kushner said the talks held since Tuesday had led to “meaningful progress in understanding both sides’ concerns, identifying possible solutions, and establishing a path forward.”
“Both sides have now agreed to expand the next round of negotiations to include our European partners. This will allow us to address the broader postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia,” he said on “X”.
