Russian attacks kill at least 6 in Ukraine while US peace plan is discussed
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least six people in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure, while a Ukrainian attack in southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.
Water, electricity and heat were knocked out in parts of the capital, Kyiv. Video footage posted to Telegram showed a large fire spreading in a nine-story residential building in Kyiv’s eastern district of Dniprovskyi.
Mayor Vitalii Kitschko said two people were killed and five injured in Dniprovskyi and another residential building in the central Pechersk district was badly damaged.
In a subsequent attack wave, four people were killed and three were injured in a strike on a nonresidential building in Kyiv’s western Svyatoshynyi district, according to the head of Kyiv city administration, Tymor Tkachenko.
Ukraine’s energy ministry also said energy infrastructure had been hit, without describing the extent of the damage. Ukraine’s emergency services said six people, including two children, were injured in a Russian attack on energy and port infrastructure in Odesa region.
Three people were killed and eight more were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s southern Rostov region overnight. The casualties occurred in the city of Taganrog not far from the border in Ukraine, Gov. Yuri Slyusar said in an online statement Tuesday.
The attack damaged private houses and multistory residential blocks, unspecified social facilities, a warehouse and a paint shop, Slyusar said.
Russian air defenses destroyed 249 Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions and the occupied Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday, noting that 116 of the drones were shot down over the Black Sea.
The attacks followed talks between U.S. and Ukraine representatives in Geneva on Sunday about a U.S.-Russia brokered peace plan.
Oleksandr Bevz, a delegate from the Ukrainian side, told The Associated Press the talks had been “very constructive” and the two sides were able to discuss most points.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Monday it had not seen the updated plan.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials for several hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday after the Trump administration jump-started negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press.
Driscoll, who became part of the U.S. negotiating team less than two weeks ago, is now heading up the latest phase of talks involving the terms of a possible peace plan with Russia.
The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, also noted the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting.
The official wouldn’t offer details on how long the negotiations were expected to last or what topics were being discussed but noted all sides have indicated they wanted to reach a deal to halt the fighting as quickly as possible.
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Toropin reported from Washington.
