Russia and Ukraine on Monday traded accusations against each other about overnight air strikes, which have killed one person and injured seven others, a day ahead of renewed US-mediated peace talks set to commence in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
In Ukraine, Poltava Governor Vitaliy Dyakivnych said in a statement on Telegram late on Sunday that seven people were injured in the city of Kremenchuk, where he said Russian drones struck a 16-storey residential building and a hotel building.
Dyakivnych later said a Russian drone also hit the territory of a private property in the Hlobyne urban area of the Kremenchuk district, resulting in no casualties but causing a fire at an outbuilding.
According to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, rescuers saved 15 residents following the strikes on the city, noting that fires which broke out due to the attacks have been extinguished.
Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said critical infrastructure has been damaged in the region’s capital, adding that no casualties were inflicted due to Russian attacks since Sunday evening.
Separately, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Hanzha claimed that air defences in his region downed 23 Russian drones, noting five districts have been targeted.
The strikes damaged an enterprise in the regional capital of Dnipro and an unspecified form of infrastructure in the city of Kamianske, Hanzha added.
Ukraine’s Air Force claimed that its air defences shot down 271 out of 317 drones launched by Russia overnight.
Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry claimed that it launched overnight strikes on facilities that “support the operations of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” notably claiming hits on a plant in Hlobyne in the central Poltava region.
It further claimed damaging electrical substations in the Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, and Vinnytsia regions of Ukraine.
Strikes in Russia
The ministry also claimed that Russian air defences shot down 430 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions, as well as Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
In Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko claimed on the Russian social media platform Max that 113 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over his region, noting there are reports of drones striking an industrial zone in the town of Kirishi.
He later clarified that a drone struck the territory of the KINEF oil refinery in Kirishi, adding heating infrastructure in the town also sustained damage during the overnight strikes.
He said debris from downed drones also struck an apartment in Kirishi and the roof of an apartment building in the town of Vsevolozhsk. The latter strike killed one person, he later declared.
Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said several Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight in the southern region’s Millerovsky, Tarasovsky, and Neklinovsky districts.
Separately, Alexander Gusev, governor of the Russian border region of Voronezh, claimed that six drones were detected and destroyed in the skies over Voronezh and three districts of the region, adding there are no casualties or damage based on preliminary information.
Independent verification of Moscow's and Kiev’s claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.
Both countries deny deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, maintaining that strikes are directed only at military targets or facilities linked to military activities.
The strikes come a day before Russian, Ukrainian, and US representatives are scheduled to convene in Abu Dhabi for a renewed round of trilateral peace negotiations starting on Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine last held US-mediated peace talks earlier this year, with three rounds taking place on January 23-24, February 4-5, and February 17-18. The first two were held in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.
