Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least four people overnight into Sunday, officials said, hours after Moscow rejected German calls to ease its escalation toward Nato.
In Kyiv, Ukraine’s emergency service said a man was found dead after a Russian drone struck a non-residential building. Later, Russian drone strikes on the outskirts of the capital killed one person and wounded at least five, according to local administration head Tymur Tkachenko. One person died and four were injured in Vyshneve, where a drone damaged five vehicles and caused a fire. A security guard was injured near Fastiv, and firefighters continued battling a blaze at a vehicle repair shop after another drone strike.
Russian forces also struck the southern Odesa region several times overnight, killing one person and injuring two, according to local military administration head Oleh Kiper.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia struck a data centre in Kyiv twice on Sunday morning, injuring two children and an adult. Russia’s defence ministry said the facility provided internet services to Ukraine’s armed forces.
In Russian-occupied Ukraine, a strike by Ukrainian forces killed a civilian woman in Enerhodar, according to the town’s Kremlin-installed mayor, Maxim Pukhov. He said two other people were injured. Enerhodar is home to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia captured early in the war. The plant is not operating but requires power to run cooling systems and maintain safety.
The strikes came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held what was believed to be the first direct meeting with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting took place during the UN General Assembly’s annual gathering in New York and was held at Wadephul’s request.
Lavrov dismissed the meeting, saying Wadephul had “simply reiterated his official position condemning Russia”. He added: “You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not.”
A German delegation official said Wadephul was open to improved relations but that this required a genuine willingness from Russia’s leadership to end the war in Ukraine. An overwhelming majority of UN member nations have repeatedly condemned Moscow’s invasion, while the Kremlin describes it as a “special military operation” intended to ensure Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.
