KYIV, Ukraine, April 4, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A Russian drone hit a covered market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 25, officials said, as Moscow pressed on with intensified daytime attacks.

Russia has been firing aerial broadsides at Ukraine throughout its more than 
four-year invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks it has stepped up 
daytime attacks.

The market in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, was hit at 9:50 am (0650 GMT), 
the local prosecutor's office said.

Regional governor, Oleksandr Ganja, said in a Telegram post that three women and two men were killed.

He added that a 14-year-old girl was among the 25 wounded and was in a 
"critical condition".

Attacks continued during the morning hours on Saturday, wounding six in the 
northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the front line, regional police said.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 286 drones overnight, of which 260 
were intercepted.

In the northern Sumy region, 11 people were wounded in strikes on residential 
areas and civilian infrastructure overnight, police said.

Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed a building whose upper 
floors were engulfed in flames. Another attack killed a woman and wounded 
another two in the southeastern city of Kherson, which is close to the 
fighting.

In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region bordering 
Ukraine left one person dead and four seriously wounded in the city of 
Taganrog, regional governor Yuri Slyussar said.

On the Sea of Azov, a foreign cargo ship was damaged by falling drone debris 
and caught fire, he added.

A family of three, including an eight-year-old child, was killed in a house 
by a nighttime Ukrainian drone strike that also targeted railway 
infrastructure in Russian-occupied Lugansk, the Moscow-backed administration 
said.

- Stalled talks -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was on a surprise visit to Istanbul on 
Saturday for security talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Zelensky this week signalled he was ready for a truce over the Orthodox 
Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received "clearly 
formulated" proposals.

Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, 
and says Moscow is not interested in peace. Russia says it wants a permanent 
settlement instead of a brief ceasefire.

Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have 
been stalled by the war in the Middle East.

In comments to reporters, including AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said 
he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations 
with Moscow.

"The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions -- 
during the war with Iran -- to come to Kyiv," Zelensky said.

"The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does 
not work out with three parties, let's do it this way," he added.

Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in 
fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in 
retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations.

Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed 
defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose 
effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy.

He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv's experience 
in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the 
beginning of its invasion.