KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian officials said Thursday that a Ukrainian drone strike killed 24 people and wounded at least 50 others as they celebrated the New Year in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region, as tensions between the two nations continue to rise despite what diplomats called productive peace talks.
Three drones hit a cafe and a hotel in the resort town of Khorly on the Black Sea coast, said the leader of the region installed in Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, in a statement on Telegram. He said that one of the drones carried an incendiary mixture, which sparked a fire.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the strike request. The attack could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.
The attack was condemned by a number of Russian officials. Valentina Matviyenko, the president of Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, said the strike “strengthened” Russia’s will to quickly achieve its goals in its nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.
The strike “again proves the validity of our initial demands,” Matviyenko said.
The statement follows statements from Moscow that on Tuesday Ukraine launched a long-range drone strike against one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official residences in northwestern Russia. Kyiv denounced the allegations as “a lie.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry released video on Wednesday of a downed drone it said was involved in the attack.
The nighttime video showed a man in camouflage, a helmet and a Kevlar vest standing next to a damaged drone lying in the snow. The man, his face covered, talks about the drone. Neither the man nor the Ministry of Defense provided a location or date.
The video and claims could not be independently verified.
Tensions are rising
Kyiv has called the alleged attack on Putin’s residence an attempt to derail ongoing peace talks, which have intensified in recent weeks on both sides of the Atlantic.
In his New Year’s address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a peace agreement was “90% ready” but warned that the remaining 10%, which are believed to include key sticking points such as territory, “will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live.”
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son and adviser Jared Kushner had a “productive call” with the national security advisers of Great Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine “to discuss advancing the next steps in the European peace process.”
“We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of (Trump’s) peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it doesn’t start again,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov also reaffirmed that European and Ukrainian officials plan to meet on Saturday, while Zelenskyy is due to hold talks next week with European leaders.
Waves of attacks
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia attacked the Odesa region overnight, targeting civilian infrastructure in several waves of drone attacks, according to regional chief Oleh Kiper.
In a post on Telegram, Kiper said that a two-storey residential building was damaged and that a drone hit an apartment on the 17th floor of a high-rise building without exploding. There were no casualties reported.
In its daily report, Ukraine’s air force said air defense forces shot down or intercepted 176 of 205 drones targeting the country overnight. She said that hits from 24 attack drones were recorded in 15 places and the attack was still ongoing. ___
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