Russian attacks hit Dnipro overnight as talks remain on the table
Russian drone and missile strikes hit Ukraine’s Dnipro overnight, killing at least five people and wounding dozens, regional officials said Saturday, as Ukraine and Russia continued exchanging attacks in multiple areas. Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said the strikes damaged parts of the city and sparked fires, after which responders found the bodies of four people in the ruins of a house destroyed during the overnight attacks.
Hanzha said the Russian attacks on Dnipro and other communities continued “practically all night,” and he reported that partially destroyed buildings included apartment buildings as well as businesses and a private house. He also said an additional person was killed in a separate Russian attack on Dnipro on Saturday afternoon, in the same residential area hit during the overnight strikes, adding that the attacks left 46 people wounded in total.
To the southwest, Hanzha’s report said two people were wounded in overnight drone attacks on the Odesa region. Oleh Kiper, the regional head, said residential buildings, port infrastructure and cars were damaged in the south of the region.
Across the border in Russia’s Belgorod region, local officials said a woman was killed and a man was seriously wounded by a Ukrainian drone strike. In Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik — described by the Associated Press as Russia-installed — said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village, but Ukraine did not comment and the claim was not independently verified by the AP.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that fragments from drones were found in a residential area of the southeastern city of Galați, and also on a farm about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) from Galați near Romania’s border with Ukraine. The ministry said no casualties were reported, and it noted that Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on multiple occasions.
The overnight attacks came after a prisoner swap Friday in which Russia and Ukraine exchanged 193 service members. The exchange was described by the Associated Press as one of the few positive outcomes of months of U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv that have not produced progress on key issues tied to ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
During a meeting Saturday with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is open to continuing peace talks with Russia in Azerbaijan. Zelenskyy said Ukraine has already held such talks “in Turkey and with our American partners in Switzerland,” and he said Ukraine was ready for negotiations in Azerbaijan if Russia is ready for diplomacy.