Drone attacks:- Ukraine’s military said Thursday that Russian forces attacked overnight with 19 missiles and 32 aerial drones directed at areas across Ukraine, while Russia reported Ukrainian aerial and naval drone attacks.
The Ukrainian air force said the country’s air defenses shot down all 32 of the drones, along with seven of the missiles.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, said seven of the drones were shot down there, with debris causing damage to a house and power lines.
Missile and drone intercepts also took place over the Cherkasy, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday it destroyed five Ukrainian aerial drones over the southwestern region of Krasnodar.
Russian air defenses also shot down eight tactical missiles over the Sea of Azov and eight drones near the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Two Ukrainian naval drones heading toward Crimea were destroyed in the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message late Wednesday that nearly 100 countries and international organizations are set to take part in a peace conference being held in mid-June in Switzerland.
Zelenskyy said his government has found support for the effort despite what he described as Russian attempts to derail the meeting.
"Russia is no longer in a position to disrupt the summit, although it is trying very hard to do so," Zelenskyy said. "It is putting pressure on leaders, openly threatening various states with destabilization. And this is one of the consequences of the world giving the terrorist state too much time."
Russia has not been invited to participate in the conference.
Ukraine is demanding Russia fully withdraw from Ukrainian territory before engaging in negotiations, while Russia has called for Ukraine to recognize its territorial gains.
NATO foreign ministers are expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine as they meet Thursday and Friday in Prague ahead of the U.S.-hosted NATO summit in July. VOA/SP