Russian authorities said Friday that the death toll from a Ukrainian drone strike they said hit a cafe in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region had risen to 27 people. Kiev denied attacking civilian targets.
Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for Russia’s main criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, said in a statement that a Ukrainian drone attacked a cafe and hotel in the village of Khorly, where at least 100 civilians were celebrating New Year’s Eve on Thursday night, killing 27 people, including two minors. A total of 31, including five minors, were hospitalized with injuries.
A criminal investigation has been opened on the charges that he committed a terrorist act, said Petrenko.
A spokesman for the General Staff of Ukraine, Dmytro Lykhovii, denied attacking civilians. He told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne on Thursday that Ukrainian forces “adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law” and “conduct attacks exclusively against Russian military targets, Russian fuel and energy sector facilities, and other lawful targets.”
Lykhovii said that the General Staff published an explicit list of targets that the Ukrainian army hit on New Year’s Eve that does not include occupied parts of the Kherson region.
Lykhovii noted that Russia has repeatedly used disinformation and false statements to disrupt ongoing peace negotiations.
The Associated Press could not independently verify statements made about the attack.
Zelenskyy appoints intelligence chief to new role
In Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff on Friday, following the resignation of Andrii Yermak following a corruption scandal more than a month ago.
In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine must now focus on security issues, the development of its defense and security forces, and the diplomatic track of negotiations — areas that will fall under the mandate of the Office of the President headed by Budanov.
Zelenskyy fired Yermak, the former head of the President’s Office, on November 28 after anti-corruption officials searched his residence as part of an investigation into alleged graft in the energy sector.
Budanov, 39, is one of the country’s most recognizable and popular wartime figures and has headed Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, since 2020.
A career military intelligence officer, he rose through the ranks of Ukraine’s defense establishment following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, taking part in special operations and intelligence missions related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He was reportedly wounded during one such operation.
Since the full invasion of Russia in 2022, Budanov has become a prominent public face of Ukraine’s intelligence effort, appearing regularly in interviews and briefings that mix strategic signaling with psychological pressure on Moscow. He has frequently warned about Russia’s long-term intentions towards Ukraine and the region, portraying the war as an existential struggle for the Ukrainian state.
Under Budanov’s leadership, the GUR expanded its operational footprint, coordinating intelligence, sabotage and special operations aimed at degrading Russian military capabilities far beyond the front lines. Ukrainian officials have credited military intelligence with operations targeting Russian command structures, logistics centers, energy infrastructure and naval assets, including strikes deep into Russian territory and occupied zones.
His appointment to head the Office of the President marks an unusual shift, placing a serving intelligence chief at the center of Ukraine’s political and diplomatic coordination. Zelenskyy framed the move as part of a broader effort to focus the state on security, defense development and diplomacy as the war with Russia continues into its fourth year.
“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results,” Zelenskyy said.
Witkoff praises the progress in the negotiations
Russia’s accusations against Ukraine come as the United States is leading a diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Moscow alleged that Kiev launched a long-range drone strike against a residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in northwestern Russia overnight from Sunday to Monday.
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 points of attachment 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.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia carried out what local authorities called “one of the most massive” drone strikes in Zaporizhzhia overnight.
At least nine Russian drones hit the city, damaging dozens of residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure, the head of the regional administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram on Friday. There were no casualties, the official said.
Overall, Russia fired 116 long-range drones into Ukraine last night, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which said 86 drones were intercepted, while another 27 hit their targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that its air defenses intercepted 64 Ukrainian drones overnight over various Russian regions.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, on Friday also accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out a missile attack on the city of Belgorod. Two women were hospitalized with injuries, Gladkov said. The strike broke windows in several residential buildings and damaged an unspecified “commercial” facility and a number of cars, according to the official.