By Euronews
Published on
•Updated
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At least three people were injured in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy overnight into Friday in Russian drone attacks.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that it had managed to contain a fire that broke out at a four-storey building in Kharkiv following the strikes. Two people were injured, according to local authorities.
One person was injured in Russian strikes on residential building in Sumy.
Emergency services were seen dousing flames and clearing rubble in the aftermath.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia had launched 108 Shahed-type attack drones, decoy drones and kamikaze drones overnight in their attack.
Eighty-two were shot down while 26 struck 10 locations, the air force said.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian attack drones struck several targets in Crimea, including a landing craft, air defence base and several radar stations.
These attacks came on the day of a deadline set by the White House for Moscow to show progress towards ending their full-scale invasion of Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions.
The strikes follow news that US President Donald Trump will reportedly meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even if the Russian leader won’t meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin chaired a meeting of the Security Council to discuss regional security issues on Friday. It was the first time in years that it was held in person following COVID-era restrictions.
Despite months of US-led efforts to negotiate a peace, Russia has continued in its all-out invasion of its neighbour.
According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides as well as more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment on Thursday that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process.”
“Putin continues to believe that time is on Russia’s side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West,” it said.
Additional sources • AP
