Russia escalated its attacks on Ukrainian civilians overnight — killing at least 16 people and injuring 94 more with drones and missiles, despite pleas from Kyiv for an Easter ceasefire.
In one of the most brutal blitzes of the overnight campaign, a Russian drone struck a market in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipro region Saturday morning, killing at least five people and injuring 27 others.
A 14-year-old girl was among those critically wounded, while victims were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, mine-explosive injuries and burns, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast governor.
Criminal proceedings for war crimes were initiated for the attack, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General said. Since Russian strongman Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion more than four years ago, the office has documented more than 210,000 such cases.
Images of the wreckage show market stalls ripped to pieces and the roof collapsed, as fires tore through the shops, with meat and other produce spread on the floor among the charred structure.
“Shops were mutilated,” Hanzha slammed on Telegram.
In separate attacks in the Dnipro region, a five-month-old baby was among three people injured as flames from drones and aerial bomb strikes ripped through residential neighborhoods.
In Russia, two key Baltic oil export hubs were damaged after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks, forcing refineries to find more expensive rail transport routes to other export terminals.
A Ukrainian drone and missile attack on southern Russia also killed at least one person and injured four others.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced greater security co-operation with Turkey after meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul Saturday, — as Kyiv seeks to leverage its wartime defense capabilities against Iranian drones.
In exchange, Erdogan vowed to continue supporting negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky is also expecting a visit from US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner for peace talks in Kyiv this month, Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, told Bloomberg News.
The delegation, which may include Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), could visit soon after Orthodox Easter on April 12 to resume peace talks that have been stalled by the fighting in the Middle East.
It would mark Witkoff and Kushner’s first visit on Ukrainian soil for talks, though the pair has gone to Russia multiple times to meet with Putin.
Ukraine has received requests from allies to stop its airstrikes on Russian oil refineries, Budanov said — which could give it some additional leverage in negotiations amid a sharp rise in global oil prices stemming from the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz.
A US official told Bloomberg News the trip is under discussion, but no dates have been confirmed yet.
With Post Wires
