Russian attacks kill 5 and wound more than 30 in Ukraine’s Dnipro

Russian drone and missile strikes on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least five people and wounded 34, local authorities said Saturday.

The bodies of four people were found in the ruins of a house destroyed in overnight attacks, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

“The Russians have been hitting Dnipro and other cities and communities practically all night,” Hanzha wrote on social media platform Telegram of the attacks, which caused fires to break out across Dnipro and partially destroyed several apartment buildings, businesses and a private house, wounding 27 people.

Another person was killed in a separate Russian attack on Dnipro Saturday afternoon, according to Hanzha, in the same residential area hit by the overnight strikes. A further seven people were wounded.

To the southwest, two people were wounded in overnight drone attacks on the Odesa region. Residential buildings, port infrastructure and cars were damaged in the south of the region, regional head Oleh Kiper said Saturday.

One killed in Russia

In Russia, a woman was killed and a man was seriously wounded by a Ukrainian drone strike in the border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

Following the overnight attacks, Romania’s Defence Ministry said Saturday that drone fragments were found in a residential area of the southeastern city of Galati, near the NATO member’s border with Ukraine. No casualties were reported.

Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on multiple occasions.

The overnight attacks followed a prisoner swap Friday, in which Russia and Ukraine exchanged 193 service members.

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, now in its fifth year.

Zelenskyy meets with Azerbaijan counterpart

While meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is open to continuing peace talks with Russia in Azerbaijan.

“We have already held such talks — in Turkey and with our American partners in Switzerland,” he said. “We are also ready for upcoming negotiations in Azerbaijan, if Russia is ready for diplomacy.”

Zelenskyy also signed deals on security and energy co-operation with Aliyev in Baku, he said, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its experience in defending its airspace from Russia.

Following the latest wave of conflict in the Middle East that began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February, multiple nations have sought Ukraine’s assistance and expertise in downing Iran’s long-range drones.

Zelenskyy said the countries had signed an agreement relating to military-industrial co-operation.

Aliyev said military-industrial partnerships between the two countries had “wide-ranging perspectives” and that the two leaders had discussed joint defence production. He did not specify that he had signed any deals.