Russia strikes Dnipro as Ukrainian officials seek security pledges in Paris

Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing three people including a child and wounding dozens, officials said Thursday.

The strike was the latest in a string of Russian attacks that have caused civilian casualties and intensified in recent weeks, as the United States continues efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.

Thirty people, including five children, were wounded in the attack, said Serhii Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration.

Local authorities said the drones caused widespread damage to civilian infrastructure, including an educational institution, a dormitory, a gymnasium and multiple residential buildings. Emergency Service said the strikes triggered multiple fires across the city.

In reaction to the Dnipro attack, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies to support the country with air defense weapons.

“Every defense package from partners for Ukraine now, every form of support from the world for our resilience, is literally protecting lives,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram Thursday. “Russia uses every day and every night to kill.”

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian delegation was in Paris for a round of bilateral and multilateral meetings with representatives of countries from the “coalition of the willing,” including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, said Andrii Yermak, head of the Presidential Office. The multinational force is expected to act as a long-term security guarantee aimed at deterring future Russian aggression after a ceasefire is in place.

The delegation also includes Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Yermak said talks with representatives of the United States are also scheduled.

“We are working on important aspects for the security of Ukraine and all of Europe,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defense systems shot down 71 Ukrainian drones overnight across six regions. Of those, 49 drones were intercepted over the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, it said. Kyiv’s forces seized a strip of land in the area during a surprise incursion in August 2024.

Additional drones were downed over the Bryansk, Vladimir, Oryol, Ryazan, and Tula regions, the ministry said.

And in Ukraine, Russia launched five missiles along with 75 strike drones overnight, the air force said Thursday. Air defense forces destroyed 25 drones, while another 30 were jammed.

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