At least three people were killed and dozens were wounded after a large Russian drone attack on the city of Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine, regional officials report. Several apartment buildings, a student dormitory, a school, and a food processing plant were damaged late Wednesday night in the attack.
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said that the drone bombings caused enormous blazes and devastating damage in their wake. Rescue teams worked overnight coping with the aftermath, as images posted online revealed charred-out vehicles and buildings with smashed windows. Among the wounded, sixteen are receiving treatment in hospitals, one critically.
This latest attack is just one example of a worrying trend of bombardment in civilian areas,” Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, writing from Kyiv, reported.
Another episode saw two people wounded by a Russian missile that hit the north-eastern town of Izyum, the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said. Russian officials while claimed to have downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight, all but one of them in the Kursk region, and reported a drone attack on Shuya town to the east of Moscow, that caused no harm.
These attacks come as the conflict enters its 38th month, against the backdrop of ongoing efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire. Trump’s approach has been that of making offers to Kyiv and reaching out with diplomatic feelers to Russia, which have been castigated by Ukrainian officials.
Later in the day on Thursday, senior-level negotiations are also set to take place in Paris, when French President Emmanuel Macron and senior European officials meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Ukraine’s ministers of foreign affairs and defense are also set to attend, stated Andriy Yermak, chairman of Ukraine’s presidential office.
Even after the diplomatic moves, there are doubts in Ukrainians about the U.S. initiative and its implications. Moscow has dismissed a joint U.S.-Ukrainian plan for an unconditional and comprehensive ceasefire as having pending issues and maintained its military activities.
A recent Russian ballistic missile attack on the city of Sumy was one of the deadliest strikes of the war, claiming the lives of 36 individuals, two of whom were children, and injuring 119 others celebrating Palm Sunday. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski condemned the attack as an exhibition of President Vladimir Putin’s disregard for U.S. diplomacy.
Even in the desperate situation, U.S. diplomat Witkoff said that Putin is still open to negotiating for a “permanent peace” treaty, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that negotiating conditions is “not easy.”
