A Russian drone hit a covered market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 19, officials said, asMoscowpressed on with intensified daytime attacks.
The market, in Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, was hit at 9:50 am (0650 GMT), the local prosecutor's office said.
Regional governor, Oleksandr Ganja, said in aTelegrampost that three women and two men were killed.
He added that a 14-year-old girl was among 19 wounded and was in a "critical condition".
Five people were also injured on Saturday morning in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the front line, regional police said.
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The Ukrainian air force saidRussiafired 286 drones overnight, of which 260 were intercepted.
In the northern Sumy region, 11 people were wounded in strikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure overnight, police said.
Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed a building whose upper floors were engulfed in flames.
Three people were wounded in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, including a baby aged five months and a six-year-old boy, Ganja said earlier on Telegram.
In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region borderingUkraine, left one person dead and four seriously wounded in the city of Taganrog, regional governor Yuri Slyussar said.
He said three local residents and a foreigner were all in critical condition but did not specify the origin of the attacks.
On theSea of Azov, a foreign cargo ship was damaged by falling drone debris and caught fire, he added.
Stalled talks
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskymeanwhile arrived inIstanbulon Saturday for talks with Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan. on security cooperation, a Ukrainian official told AFP.
Zelensky this week signalled he was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays, but theKremlinsaid it had not received "clearly formulated" proposals.
Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, and says Moscow is not interested in peace.
Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in theMiddle East.
In comments to reporters, including AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow.
"The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions -- during the war with Iran -- to come to Kyiv," Zelensky said.
"The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let's do it this way," he added.
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Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.
Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock theStrait of Hormuz, whose effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy.
He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv's experience in restoring passage through theBlack Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
