Four killed as Russia, Ukraine trade attacks
Kyiv: Russia and Ukraine traded attacks that killed at least four people Saturday, officials said, ahead of US-Ukraine talks on ways to end Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.
A man and a woman were killed and six people wounded, including two children, when a Russian drone hit a house in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said. Russian strikes also knocked out power across much of the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to local officials.
In Russia, two women were killed and another wounded by Ukrainian shelling of the Belgorod border region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The attacks came ahead of US-Ukraine talks in Miami that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on X were “constructive.” He said the meetings, which included US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, were “part of ongoing mediation efforts, with discussions focused on narrowing and resolving remaining items to move closer to a comprehensive peace agreement.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Thursday he had sent a delegation to the US in a bid to move forward suspended US-brokered talks on ending Russia’s invasion. Trilateral talks involving Russia, which have yet to produce any breakthrough on key issues, have been on ice while the Iran war has dominated international attention.
Zelenskyy said the main goal of the meeting was to ensure that the trilateral talks resume and that Washington continues to allow other NATO countries to purchase American weapons to send to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that a new round of US-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv will likely take place soon.
Western European officials have over the past year repeatedly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in negotiations while he tries to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. Russian forces hold nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine.
The latest Middle East conflict, triggered on February 28 by Israeli and US strikes on Iran, has shifted global attention away from Ukraine, as Russia gains from eased oil sanctions while Kyiv still awaits a $103 billion EU loan amid severe
financial strain.
