Russian drone kills Ukrainian family ahead of ceasefire talks

KYIV, Ukraine: A Russian drone killed a family of three in southern Ukraine, triggering uproar in Kyiv 48 hours before both countries hold talks with the US on halting the three-year war.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold separate negotiations with United States officials in Saudi Arabia on Monday, with a senior Ukrainian official telling AFP it hopes to secure “at least” a partial ceasefire to stop air and naval attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian offer of a complete and unconditional ceasefire, proposing to stop attacks on energy sites and saying he had given the “corresponding order” to his army.

Russia fired 179 drones at Ukraine in its latest overnight barrage, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.

In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, an entire family, including a teenaged girl, was killed when a drone crashed into their house late Friday.

“The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from the rubble. The doctors fought for the mother’s life for more than 10 hours, but unfortunately, they failed to save her,” Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.

An AFP photographer at the scene of one strike saw rescue workers sifting through rubble of a destroyed building, as smoke and fog hung in the night air.

“Russia has once again violated the ceasefire and killed a 14-year-old child in Zaporizhzhia with a Shahed,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said, referring to the Iranian-style exploding drones that Moscow has deployed throughout the war.

The strikes on Zaporizhzhia wounded 12, including a nine-month-old baby, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine also targeted Russia with drone attacks overnight.