Russian drone strikes killed four people in southern and central Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said, as Kyiv and Moscow were set to begin US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi later Wednesday.
In Zaporizhzhia, a residential area in the regional capital was hit, killing two teenagers and wounding at least 11 others, including three children, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.
Emergency services posted images showing bodies on the ground, burnt-out cars, and smoldering rubble.
“Among the victims, two teenagers, just murdered in Zaporizhzhia. This is mass murder. This is genocide,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Meanwhile, a drone strike in Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday killed two people in the Synelnykivsky district, regional head Mykola Lukashuk said on Telegram. The victims were a 68-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man.
Zaporizhzhia is among the regions Russia claimed to annex in September 2022, along with Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson. Moscow has carried out near-daily drone and missile strikes, largely targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as the full-scale invasion is set to enter its fifth year.