Russia and Ukraine stage drone attacks, three dead
Russian and Ukrainian forces fired dozens of drones at each other early Tuesday, killing a 12-year-old girl in Ukraine and two people in a Russian border region, authorities said.
The attacks came less than two days into a week the United States warned would be "critical" for the peace process and as US officials threaten to abandon their push for a ceasefire if they do not see progress soon.
Russian strikes on Ukraine have killed dozens of people over the past month, including in the capital Kyiv, while hostilities on the front line have shown no signs of abating.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day truce in May to coincide with Moscow's World War II commemorations.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said this was only intended for Putin to "have silence" during Moscow's May 9 military parade and demanded an immediate ceasefire.
Russia fired 100 drones at Ukraine between late Monday and early Tuesday, the Ukrainian air force said.
"The enemy attack led to a tragedy. In Gubynykha, in the Samar district, a 12-year-old girl died," the governor of Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Gubynykha is around 140 kilometers (90 miles) west of the front line.
"A 6-year-old girl and two adults were injured," he added.
In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, "an enemy drone deliberately struck a moving vehicle carrying five men", regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
"To our great sorrow, two people died at the scene before the arrival of medical personnel," he added.
The Russian army said it shot down 40 drones over various regions overnight, including four over the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.
Since launching its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, Russia has seized large parts of four Ukrainian regions and claimed them as its own, in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Source: Agence France Presse
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