Ukrainian girl killed and another hurt in Russian missile attack
A Russian missile has hit a front-line region in Ukraine, killing a child and injuring another, as uncertainty remains as to whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul.
Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed by air defences while another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said.
A nine-old girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia’s governor Ivan Fedorov said.
“One house was destroyed. The shockwave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars and outbuildings,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, 14 people were injured after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said.
Four children were among those injured in the two attacks, which also sparked several fires, he said.
On Friday, Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war, before the two delegations sit down to negotiate.
Speaking late on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia was “undermining diplomacy” by withholding the document.
“For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks.
By Associated Press Reporter