Kenneth Glad
Civilian areas were struck during another overnight assault. A separate claim from a Moscow-backed official raised questions about how Russia portrays politics inside Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks killed at least seven people across several regions, according to the Daily Sun. Officials also reported damage to a Kyiv-region food plant that produces dairy goods for children.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched at least 216 drones and two missiles between late Thursday and early Friday. Those figures were attributed to Ukrainian officials and were not independently verified by this outlet.
Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said a civilian food-industry site had been struck: “The enemy attacked a peaceful civilian food industry enterprise.”
He later said four people had died in the Kyiv region. Two more deaths were reported in Dnipropetrovsk, while Ukraine’s emergency service said one woman was killed in Zaporizhzhia.
Ceasefire terms remain far apart
The strikes came more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying only the two leaders could settle “key issues.”
The Kremlin said it knew about the proposal but that Putin had not reviewed it.
Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from Donbas, while Kyiv is seeking a ceasefire along current front lines before territorial talks.
Pushilin claim faces scrutiny
Separately, TASS, a Russian state news agency, reported that Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-backed head of the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, claimed organized opposition inside Ukraine could not emerge without outside help.
The claim matters because Russian officials often depict Ukraine’s leadership as politically isolated. Pushilin’s assertion is partisan and has not been independently confirmed.
“Unfortunately, in Ukraine now, in the remaining part of Ukraine, any serious opposition without external intervention is impossible. Because all the protest leaders who would be ready to act as ‘number one,’ to express their opinion, have simply been destroyed. They are either in prison or have been thrown into the meat grinder, including to the front,” Pushilin said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Sources: TASS, Daily Sun
