More than 10 killed as Russia, Ukraine trade accusations following overnight strikes, Abu Dhabi talks - Anadolu Ajansı

More than 10 people were killed in overnight attacks as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations Friday, just days after concluding two days of US-mediated peace talks in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi.

In Russia, Volgograd Gov. Andrey Bocharov said in a statement on Telegram that debris from downed Ukrainian drones fell at an enterprise in the southern industrial zone of the regional capital and in the surrounding area, causing localized fires.

While initially reporting no casualties or damage to residential infrastructure, he later said that four people were killed and two others injured as a result of the overnight Ukrainian attack.

“In the settlement of Svetly Yar, the glazing of windows and balconies has been damaged in three five-story residential buildings and a youth center. There are no casualties,” Bocharov further said, adding that municipal authorities were instructed to assess the extent of the damage and carry out cleanup and repair work.

Samara Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Russian social media company Max that a Ukrainian attack on an industrial facility in the region killed four people.

"There are others who have been injured and are currently receiving medical attention... Emergency services are on-site, and an operational headquarters has been established," Fedorishchev added.

Rostov Gov. Yury Slyusar said one person was injured after drone debris caused damage in the regional capital of Rostov-on-Don and in multiple districts of the southern Russian region.

Slyusar specified that the infrastructure damaged in the attacks included residential buildings, a production facility and a warehouse.

Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed that a total of 467 drones were downed between 1500GMT Thursday and 0500GMT Friday as they headed toward the Moscow region. He added that 144 drones were intercepted as they approached the capital.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it downed 1,198 Ukrainian drones across 17 regions, as well as over the Black Sea and Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukraine’s Air Force claimed that it shot down 80 out of 117 attack drones launched by Russia overnight.

In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the local department of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said one person was injured after Russian attacks hit a hospital in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district, causing damage.

“Thirty people were evacuated to a safe location by the medical facility's staff, and seven more people were rescued by State Emergency Service rescuers,” it said, noting that a fire that broke out at the hospital was extinguished.

Rivne Gov. Oleksandr Koval said, meanwhile, that six people were injured in the northwestern region after a drone hit a multistory building in the regional capital.

Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said two people were killed in the region after a Russian strike damaged residential buildings and passenger cars, adding that rescue teams and other emergency services were working at the scene.

Local authorities in the Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the last of which reported that a 17-year-old boy had been killed, also announced damage caused by overnight strikes.

Independent verification of Russia's and Ukraine’s claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.

The overnight strikes come just two days after the conclusion of US-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the UAE on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting notably in plans for a large-scale prisoner exchange, the specifics of which are still being discussed.

The trilateral peace negotiations were the first since February, when Russian, Ukrainian and American representatives met in Geneva, Switzerland. That meeting was preceded by two rounds of peace talks in the Emirati capital.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who represented Washington at the Abu Dhabi talks, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday and then with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Irish capital Dublin later that evening.

According to Kushner, the talks held since Tuesday have led to “meaningful progress in understanding both sides’ concerns, identifying possible solutions, and establishing a path forward.”

"Both sides have now agreed to expand the next round of negotiations to include our European partners. This will allow us to address the broader postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia," he said on US social media platform X.