KYIV (The Thursday Times) — A Russian drone set fire to a hospital in central Kyiv overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Friday, while Russia said it had shot down 1,198 Ukrainian drones over more than 15 regions in one of the largest attacks Ukraine has launched.
The drone hit the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics in the Shevchenkivskyi district at about 3am, partially destroying its second floor, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and health ministry. Three patients were injured, rescuers brought seven people out, and hospital staff evacuated 30 others, officials said. Patients from the damaged wards were moved to other parts of the hospital.
Russia launched 117 drones at Ukraine overnight, 80 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said. Regional officials said Russian attacks killed nine people and injured 61 across the country over the past day, including two killed when a residential building was hit in Odesa and four killed in Donetsk region. Strikes on the power grid caused outages in 12 regions, the deputy energy minister, Artem Nekrasov, said.
Drones over Russia
Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted 1,198 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukrainian drones killed four people in an industrial zone in the Volgograd region that is home to an oil refinery and a chemical plant, local authorities said. Four more were killed at an industrial facility in the Samara region, its governor said, and one person was killed in the Bryansk border region.
Ukraine says its strikes on Russia’s oil industry are retaliation for the bombardment of its cities and are meant to cut Moscow’s energy earnings. Earlier this week, Russian strikes hit six substations (read more), and on Thursday Ukraine said it had hit a Russian warship in the Baltic (read more).
Talks go on
The attacks came as the US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin, where European leaders met on Friday. Kushner said Putin had agreed to include Europe in the negotiations.
Putin has refused to give up territory held by his forces and has said foreign troops deployed in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” (read more). Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday and agreed on a large prisoner exchange, but made no progress towards ending the war.
