Drone strikes claim lives in Ukraine and Russia ahead of fresh peace talks

Drone strikes claimed lives in both Ukraine and Russia on Saturday, casting a grim shadow over the prospect of fresh peace talks scheduled for next week.

An elderly woman was killed when a Russian drone struck a residential building in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed.

Meanwhile, in Russia, a civilian died in a Ukrainian drone attack on a car in the border region of Bryansk, according to regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz. These incidents followed a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod the previous day, which killed two people and wounded five, as reported by Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Against this backdrop of escalating hostilities, a new round of US-brokered discussions between envoys from Russia and Ukraine is set to take place in Geneva next week.

The talks, confirmed by officials in Moscow and Kyiv on Friday, will occur just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated the discussions would be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, a schedule corroborated by Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The negotiations unfold amid relentless fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front line, persistent Russian bombardment of Ukrainian civilian areas and its power grid, and Kyiv’s almost daily long-range drone attacks on military-related assets within Russian territory.

Previous US-led efforts to find common ground, including two recent rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, have failed to resolve contentious issues such as the future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial heartland, which is largely occupied by Russian forces.

Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, President Zelenskyy expressed profound gratitude to American and European allies for their provision of air defence systems, which he said protect vital infrastructure like power plants and "save lives." He emphasised the constant threat, stating: "Russian attacks happen almost every night in Ukraine and at least once a week, massive strikes."

He added: "Without you Americans, Europeans, and everyone who stands with us, it would have been very, very difficult to hold on." Mr Zelenskyy reiterated his conviction that security guarantees for Ukraine must precede any peace agreement with Russia. He also noted last week that the United States had set a June deadline for Ukraine and Russia to reach a deal, though previous deadlines given by Donald Trump have largely passed without consequence.