Russia launches fresh daytime attacks on Ukraine, leaving 14 dead

Ukraine vs Russia – (Web Desk) – At least 14 people lost their lives in Ukraine on Friday as Russia unleashed one of its heaviest daytime assaults in recent memory, officials confirmed. While Russian forces have long carried out aerial attacks under the cover of night throughout their four-year war against Ukraine, daytime strikes have become alarmingly more frequent in recent weeks.

Ukrainian air force officials reported that Russian forces fired over 500 drones and dozens of missiles in Friday’s assault — a staggering scale of destruction. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the timing, saying Russia was deliberately ramping up violence just before Catholic Easter on Sunday, calling it an “Easter escalation” that shattered any hope for peaceful skies.

In Kyiv’s capital region, one person was killed and eight others were wounded. Emergency service photos showed heartbreaking scenes — apartment buildings torn apart, rubble scattered across streets. Even a local veterinary clinic was hit, claiming the lives of around 20 animals. While some residents sought safety in metro stations and basements, others sat quietly in cafes, seemingly resigned to the relentless sound of air raid sirens.

A drone hit a residential building in the town of Obukhiv, and another strike landed dangerously close to a kindergarten and school in Vyshneve. Three people died in the Sumy region, two more in Zhytomyr and Dnipropetrovsk, and eight lives were lost across the frontline regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

The widespread attacks triggered emergency power cuts across several regions. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said the assault was Moscow’s answer to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire call. Zelensky had expressed willingness for a holiday truce earlier in the week, but the Kremlin dismissed the offer, saying no clearly defined proposals had been received.

Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, and says Moscow is not interested in peace.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in the Middle East.

In comments to reporters, including from AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow.

“The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions — during the war with Iran — to come to Kyiv,” Zelensky said.

“The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let’s do it this way,” he added.

US President Donald Trump’s envoys have been engaged in three-way shuttle diplomacy with Ukrainian and Russian teams in a bid to end the war.

But these have stalled as Washington has been occupied with the aerial campaign on Iran it launched in late February.

Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.

Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

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He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy.

He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv’s experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion.