Moscow, Kyiv exchange drone strikes

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least four people Wednesday, as the war between the neighbors drags on for more than four years with no diplomatic breakthrough in sight.

Kyiv said Russian drone strikes killed two people and wounded seven more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which lies close to the Russian border, was encircled at the beginning of Russia’s invasion four years ago.

It has been attacked almost daily since Moscow’s forces were pushed back later in 2022.

The governor of the wider region, Oleg Synegubov, said two people were killed in the attack on the Shevchenkivsky district.

“A civilian enterprise caught fire as a result of the enemy strike,” he said, adding that three women and four men had been hospitalized.

In the Russian-occupied part of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed authorities said two civilians were killed in their car by a Ukrainian drone strike on the frontline town of Vasylivka.

“The danger of repeated strikes remains,” Kremlin-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said.

The United States is pushing Kyiv and Moscow to agree to an elusive peace deal, but a third round of three-party talks has been derailed by the war in the Middle East.