KYIV: A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and wounded 14, including children, local authorities said on Saturday.

Moscow has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine and peace talks initiated by the United States to end the three-year conflict have stalled.

“Rescuers pulled the bodies of two people from the rubble who died as a result of a hostile drone strike on a residential building,” Odesa Governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

The night-time strike wounded 14 people, Kiper said, adding that “three of them children.” Separately, authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes over the past day.

“Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region,” the Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Russia’s offensive, which has forced millions from their homes and devastated much of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has launched retaliatory strikes on Russia throughout the war.

The Russian defence ministry said its air defence had shot down 31 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Moscow also said it had captured another village in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed as part of Russia since late 2022.

Russia has demanded Ukraine cede more land and give up Western military support as a precondition to peace — terms Kyiv says are unacceptable.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2025