3 killed and scores injured as Russia targets Ukraine with new attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Russian forces have pummeled Ukraine with drones and other weapons, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire, officials said Thursday.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched a barrage of 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defenses destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed.

Ukraine's police said two people were killed and six were injured over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said.

The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that 15 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight.

Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, kindergartens and other civilian infrastructure.

"Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing," Terekhov said.

The Russian military has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and northeastern parts of the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line.

While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs.

Ukraine hit back with drone raids. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 52 Ukrainian drones early Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks Thursday.

The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as nonstarters, making any quick deal unlikely.

Speaking at a meeting of leaders of southeast European countries in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the European Union to toughen its latest package of sanctions against Russia. He argued that lowering the cap on the price of Russian oil from $60 to $45 as the bloc has proposed isn’t enough.

"Real peace comes with a $30 cap -- that's the level that will truly change thinking in Moscow," Zelenskyy said.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv Thursday on an unannounced visit, noting that the stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine send a message from Moscow that it has "no interest in a peaceful solution at present," according to German news agency dpa.

Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine.

"Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future - what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial cooperation, but also other support," he said.