Russia conducts war’s largest drone strike after peace talks, say Ukrainian officials

The biggest known Russia’s drone strike since full-scale war started in 2022 killed a woman in the Kyiv territory and wounded at least three people, Ukrainian officials stated early on Sunday, as Moscow stepped up attacks after peace discussions on Friday, as per Reuters.

According to Reuters, Russia carried out 273 drones by 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), targeting chiefly the central Kyiv area and the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk areas in the country’s east, Ukrainian air force stated.

Based on data given by the air force, this was Russian biggest drone strike on Ukraine of the war. On the eve of the third anniversary of Russian full-scale occupation of Ukraine on February 23, Moscow carried out a then-record 267 drones.

The first direct discussions in three years between Moscow and Kyiv on Friday failed to broker the temporary truce Ukraine and its allies have been calling. The 100 minutes of discussions in Turkey’s Istanbul yielded a deal to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.

U.S. President Trump stated he would speak to Russia’s President Putin and Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy on Monday, as per Reuters.

The sustained overnight Russia’s drone strike on Sunday killed a 28-year-old woman in the capital sector and wounded at least three people, comprising of a 4-year-old child, according to Reuters, citing the Ukrainian officials.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the enemy attack in the Obukhiv district, a woman died from her injuries,” according to the Mykola Kalashnik, governor of the Kyiv region, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine and the area around it as well as the Ukraine’s eastern part were under raid warnings for nine straight hours overnight prior they were called off at near by 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). Air defence units were involved multiple times trying to repel strikes, the military stated on Telegram, quoted by Reuters.

“It’s been a tough night. The Russians have always used war and attacks to intimidate everyone in negotiations,” according to the Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, on Telegram about Sunday’s strike, cited by Reuters.

Air defence systems neutralized 88 of the drones overnight. The strike further included 128 simulator drones that were missing along the way without hitting anything, Ukrainian air force stated in a release on Telegram.

On Saturday, a Russia’s drone strike killed nine civilians following hitting a shuttle bus in the Sumy sector in northeastern Ukraine, Kyiv stated. Zelenskiy urged the strike”deliberate” and called stronger sanctions on Russia, which stated it had striked a military infrastructure, reported by Reuters.

All of those wounded in the Obukhiv district just south of Kyiv city were hospitalised, Kalashnik stated. Multiple residential buildings were ruined in the region, he further stated.

In the city of Kyiv, fragments of a neutralized drone ruined the roof of a non-residential building, the military administration of city stated on Telegram. There were no reports of injuries, it further stated.

Reuters observers in and near by Kyiv heard explosions that sounded like air defence systems in operation. There was no instant response from Russia.

Both party reject targeting civilians in the conflict, but thousands have been eliminated in the war, the huge portion of them Ukrainian. (Forelines)