Extract from ABC News
Russia has carried out a rare daytime drone attack across Ukraine. (Reuters/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
In short:
Ukrainian regions have been pummelled by daytime drone attacks launched by Russia on Wednesday, local time.
The strikes reportedly killed four in the country's Cherkasy region.
Meanwhile, Estonia and Finland have both reported stray Ukrainian drones destined for Russia entering their airspace.
Russia has launched a rare daytime drone attack on Ukraine, killing at least four people in the central Cherkasy region and damaging energy infrastructure and industrial facilities in the west of the country, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine's air force said the attack consisted of 360 drones launched during the day on Wednesday, local time, of which 345 were shot down. About 700 drones were launched in the span of 24 hours.
Ihor Taburets, the governor of the Cherkasy region, said the four were killed while they were outside during an air alert.
He said the attack was still underway, and urged residents to take shelter.
Officials in the western regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Zakarpattia also reported drone attacks.
The Ukrainian air force said waves of drones were heading to various regions of Ukraine.
Both Ukraine and Russia are increasingly embracing drone warfare as the war drags into its fifth year. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)
Zakarpattia governor Myroslav Biletskyi said Russian drones hit critical infrastructure facilities in the Khust and Uzhhorod districts near the border with Slovakia and Hungary.
Electricity supplies were cut off to about 11,000 customers in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the west, regional officials said.
The attacks come just days after Russia launched its biggest drone attack in months, signalling the beginning of a renewed spring offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes were Russia's response to a proposed ceasefire over Easter, labelling them "terrorist operations".
"Other signals are needed, and a silence over Easter could be exactly the signal that tells everyone that diplomacy can be successful."
Stray Ukrainian drones enter neighbouring European skies
With the war in its fifth year, both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up their drone attacks.
Such attacks usually take place overnight, when drones are harder to intercept.
Estonia's government on Wednesday announced stray drones from Ukraine that were intended for Russia had entered its airspace this week.
A local broadcaster, ERR, reported that drone debris was later found.
The violations come as Kyiv has intensified attacks on Russia's oil export infrastructure over the past month, including massive strikes on the Primorsk and Ust-Luga ports on the Baltic Sea.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's military said it had struck a Russian missile components production plant in the country's south-west.
Satellite imagery shows a huge blaze enveloping Russia's Baltic port of Ust-Luga after a Ukrainian attack. (Reuters/Vantor)
On Sunday, a Ukrainian drone crashed in Finland, the first time the Ukraine war spilled onto Finnish soil. Last week, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania reported drones of Ukrainian origin on their territory in connection with attacks on the Russian oil terminal.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday, local time, that his country was working with the Baltics and Finland to prevent future incidents.
“We are immediately sharing all necessary information, and I can reassure you that we never aimed drones at these countries,” Mr Sybiha said, adding that the incursions were the result of “conscious and deliberate actions by Russia".
With no let up in fighting, and despite global attention having shifted towards the war between Iran and the US, Mr Zelenskyy started online talks with US negotiators on Wednesday.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also joined the talks with special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump — and US Senator Lindsey Graham, according to a source talking to Reuters.
"We discussed how to strengthen diplomacy, what steps are possible, as well as security guarantees and engaging the Europeans. It was a positive conversation," Mr Zelenskyy said of the talks in his evening address.
Russia claims to take full control of eastern region
The attack came on Wednesday, local time, and on the same day Russia's defence ministry said it had taken full control of Ukraine's Luhansk region.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report and a Ukrainian military spokesperson said there had been no battlefield changes in the area in the last six months.
Russia has for years controlled more than 99 per cent of Luhansk, one of four Ukrainian regions Russia claimed as its own in 2022.
Kyiv and most Western countries have rejected Russia's claims of annexation as an illegal land grab.
"Units of the 'West' military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People's Republic," the Defence Ministry said in a statement, using Moscow's preferred name for the region.
Reuters
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