More deadly Russian attacks in Ukraine ahead of US envoys’ visit

Attacks have continued in Ukraine (AP)

Russian attacks have killed four people in Ukraine overnight, as Moscow and Kyiv await the arrival of US envoys to begin a new push for peace.

It is hoped the planned visit by Steve Witkoff and US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will revive peace talks amid escalating aerial attacks by both sides.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 775-mile front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.

The strikes come despite a message from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky saying that Ukraine would halt air attacks during the visit of Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner and urging Moscow to do the same.

“Just as we did during previous diplomatic visits by the American side, we will ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace so that the negotiators can arrive safely,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media.

“There will be no airstrikes from our side, and Russia must do the same, ensuring there are no air strikes from its side for the time needed to hold these talks and handle the logistical matters related to this American visit.”

Russian attacks killed four people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

A 62-year-old man was also wounded and several private homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, he said.

Russia’s ministry of defence said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production”.

A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-storey residential building.

Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said.

A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt.

Emergency crews responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.

Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said.

The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered — as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the Air Force.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

In a statement, Russia’s ministry of defence said that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.