Russia and Ukraine launched hundreds of missiles and drones at critical targets on Thursday, as diplomats prepared for technical talks over Kyiv’s post-war reconstruction and security guarantees in Brussels.
The Kremlin said it intercepted about 500 drones launched from Ukraine.
One Ukrainian attack on the Russian-occupied Luhansk region killed five and injured 13 people, according to the Kremlin.
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Ukrainian drones also struck Russia’s Ryazan province, located southeast of Moscow, overnight. Provincial governor Pavel Malkov said debris from the attack damaged power lines and sparked a fire near an industrial site.
Russian media outlets reported a major fire at an oil refinery in Ryazan, and footage from the site shows large plumes of black smoke near the facility.
Ukraine’s air defenses reported 128 Russian attack drones in its airspace overnight into Thursday morning. The attacks hit civilian infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region, wounding three, as well as a logistics hub west of Kyiv that wounded one and caused a fire.
The attack on Luhansk follows a deadly Russian missile strike on an aid facility near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region this week. Rescuers and volunteers were still shifting through the rubble of the site on Thursday and have recovered 42 bodies, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The attack underscores how massive an undertaking post-war reconstruction will be for Ukraine and its European allies.
Technical talks to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and post-war reconstruction efforts continued for a second day on Thursday, bringing together diplomats from Kyiv, the U.S. and Europe.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on social media that in addition to reconstruction and security provisions, the officials discussed “threats from Russia to Ukraine and all of Europe, as well as joint steps to counter them.”
The Brussles talks come as the U.S. prepares to mediate direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi next week. The talks will be the first time Russian negotiators will have met in person since February.
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