Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed at least 15 people and injured dozens over 24 hours, according to Ukrainian officials, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held talks with Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.
At least four people were killed and 11 injured in Russian attacks targeting the city of Kharkiv and 11 towns and villages in northeastern Ukraine, Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv region’s governor, said on Saturday.
Also in northeastern Ukraine, at least 11 people, including a child, were injured when a Russian drone struck a building in the region of Sumy during an overnight attack.
In the southeastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol, a Russian drone hit a covered market, killing five people and wounding 25, according to Dnipropetrovsk Governor Oleksandr Ganja.
Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram that six people were killed and 10 injured in the eastern region over 24 hours.
The Ukrainian air force said its forces “shot down or neutralised” 260 of 286 Russian drones launched towards the “north, south, east and centre of the country” during overnight attacks.
It added that 11 drones “were recorded striking 10 locations” and debris from the downed drones was found at “six locations”.
In Russia, at least one person was killed and four injured in drone and missile attacks on the southern region of Rostov, according to its governor. Rostov sits on Ukraine’s eastern border.
The overnight attack was on the port city of Taganrog, Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram.
Slyusar said the injured people – three of whom were Russians and one a foreign national – were in “critical condition”.
A missile also struck a “commercial facility”, causing a fire, Slyusar said. People were evacuated and the fire was brought under control, he said.
Separately, falling drone debris hit a foreign-flagged cargo vessel in the Sea of Azov, causing a fire, while air defences destroyed drones over Taganrog Bay and other districts, said Slyusar, who did not specify the origin of the attacks.
The Sea of Azov is a key shipping route for industrial cargo.
Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine have stalled in recent months.
The United States, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of high-level, trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year in a bid to negotiate an end to the war. No progress was made on the vital question of territorial concessions in eastern Ukraine.
A fourth round of talks scheduled for last month was postponed due to the US-Israel war on Iran.
Zelenskyy held talks with President Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday with the leaders discussing efforts to end the war as well as security issues.
Erdogan told Zelenskyy Turkiye would continue to support negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish presidency said.
He also told the Ukrainian president that Turkiye attaches great importance to maritime safety in the Black Sea and the security of energy supplies is crucial, it added.
DW Russian 
