Deadly drone strikes in Ukraine and Russia before talks

Drone strikes killed one person in Ukraine and one in Russia, officials said, ahead of new talks next week aimed at ending the war.

An elderly woman died after a Russian drone crashed into a residential building in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Russian regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Saturday that a civilian was killed in a drone attack on a vehicle in Ukraine’s Bryansk border region.

The attacks came a day after a Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian border town of Belgorod killed two people and injured five, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The next round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine will take place in Geneva next week, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement that the talks will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Dmytro Lytvyn, communications advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, confirmed the new round of negotiations.

The talks take place against a backdrop of ongoing fighting along the 1,200 km front line, Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukraine’s civilian areas and the country’s power grid, and Kiev’s almost daily long-range drone strikes on war-related assets on Russian territory.

Previous U.S.-led efforts to reach consensus on ending the war, most recently two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues such as the future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial center, which is largely occupied by Russian forces.

Zelenskiy said last week that the United States had given Ukraine and Russia until June to reach an agreement.

US President Donald Trump’s previous deadlines have largely failed.