The Japan Times - Russian drone attacks kill three in northeast Ukraine

It came a day after Ukraine said Russia carried out dozens of drone and missile strikes on its territory, killing 10 people in the capital Kyiv.

Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war have stalled, with the last direct meeting between Kyiv and Moscow almost three weeks ago and no follow-up talks scheduled.

"We have information about three dead. Among them is an eight-year-old boy," said Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region's military administration.

The boy's body was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house, he added.

"The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep -- forever."

Three people were wounded in the attack and have been hospitalised, with one in "serious condition", Grygorov added.

Russian drone strikes were also reported in Kharkiv, where three people were wounded, the city's mayor said on Telegram.

- Drone attack on Moscow -

Russia said a drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight Monday, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman.

"About 100 people were evacuated from the building, including 30 children," according to the region's governor, Andrei Vorobyov, who added that two more drones were shot down.

Russia had fired dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine a day earlier, ripping open a housing block in Kyiv, killing 10 civilians and burying others beneath the rubble.

Separate Russian attacks on Monday in the southern Odesa region left two people dead and another dozen wounded, local authorities said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said a school was hit.

"Sadly, some people may still be trapped under the rubble," he added.

Zelensky met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a surprise visit to London on Monday.

Zelensky is due to attend a two-day NATO summit in The Hague starting on Tuesday.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 -- in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal in order to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.

Y.Watanabe--JT