Russian strikes kill two in Ukraine, wound dozens

Russian strikes across Ukraine on Thursday killed at least two people and wounded dozens, officials said, as Moscow stepped up its deadly attacks amid stalled peace talks.

In the southeastern Kherson region, Russia attacked “with artillery, mortars and UAVs,” the regional prosecutor’s office said on social media.

A 42-year-old man was killed when a drone hit a civilian car, and 16 other people — including a teenage boy and three police officers — were wounded in air attacks and artillery shelling, it added.

In the Chernigiv region, north of the capital Kyiv, Russia attacked with a ballistic missile, head of Chernigiv City Military Administration Dmytro Bryzhynsky said on Telegram.

“As a result of the attack, the premises of an enterprise were damaged. According to preliminary reports, one person was killed,” Bryzhynsky said.

At least nine people have been wounded in strikes on Druzhkivka in the embattled Donetsk region in Ukraine’s east, regional official Vadym Filashkin wrote on social media.

“The city is under constant enemy fire — today is no exception,” Filashkin said, adding that Russia attacked Druzhkivka with aerial bombs, damaging two administrative buildings and a private house.

Russia fired more drones at Ukraine in March than in any month since it launched its 2022 invasion, an AFP analysis showed Thursday.

The analysis, which used daily reports published by Ukraine’s air force, showed Russia fired at least 6,462 long-range drones into Ukraine last month — up nearly 28 percent over February and the second straight monthly increase.