Ukraine under fire: Russian attacks claim 2 lives, including a 9-year-old girl

amid uncertainty over peace talks

Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, May 31, 2025, resulted in at least two fatalities, including a 9-year-old girl, and left several others injured, Ukrainian officials reported.

These assaults occurred amid growing uncertainty over whether Ukrainian officials will attend a new round of peace negotiations proposed by Russia.

The talks are scheduled to take place in Istanbul early next week.

According to Ukraine’s air force, Russian forces launched approximately 109 drones and five missiles during overnight strikes that extended into Saturday.

Of those, Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted three missiles and 42 drones.

An additional 30 drones did not reach their intended targets and caused no damage.

The widespread attack highlights the ongoing intensity of Russia’s military campaign.

In one of the most tragic incidents, a 9-year-old girl was killed in a Russian strike on Dolynka, a village located on the front lines in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

A 16-year-old was also wounded in the attack, according to Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov.

He reported that the strike destroyed one house and caused collateral damage to several others, along with cars and outbuildings in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, in the Kherson region, a man was killed by Russian shelling, as confirmed by Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

Russian authorities did not issue any official statement regarding either of these incidents.

On the battlefield, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed on Saturday that its troops had taken control of the village of Novopil.

Novopil is in the Donetsk region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense also claimed to have captured Vodolahy in the northern part of the Sumy region.

These territorial gains are part of a broader Russian push in northern and eastern Ukraine.

In response to Russia’s advances in Sumy, Ukrainian authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 additional settlements.

These latest evacuations bring the total number of communities under evacuation orders in the region to 213.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region, and tensions there have escalated rapidly as Russian troops continue to make incremental progress.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently warned that Russia has positioned around 50,000 troops in the area.

He alluded to Russia possibly preparing for a new offensive aimed at establishing a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine’s top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Russian forces were focusing their main efforts on several critical locations:

Pokrovsk, Torets, and Lyman in the Donetsk region, in addition to the border areas of Sumy.

Syrskyi also claimed that Ukrainian troops are still holding some territory within Russia’s Kursk region, an assertion Moscow has consistently denied.

Russia had earlier announced on April 26 that it had fully repelled Ukrainian forces from the region following a surprise Ukrainian incursion in August 2024.

Syrskyi emphasized that some of Russia’s most elite units were being deployed in this contested area, which the Kremlin originally intended to use in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory also caused casualties.

In Russia’s western Kursk region, 14 people, including four children, were injured.

This was after drones hit apartment buildings in the town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo, according to the region’s acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein.

The military developments come against the backdrop of uncertainty regarding upcoming peace talks.

On Friday, Andrii Yermak, a senior adviser to President Zelenskyy, stated that Ukraine is prepared to resume direct peace negotiations with Russia in Istanbul on Monday.

However, he stressed that the Kremlin must first submit a promised memorandum outlining its stance on ending the war, which has lasted more than three years.

Zelenskyy echoed these concerns, accusing Russia of undermining the diplomatic process by withholding the document.

“For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document.

“This is an absolutely bizarre position.

“There is no clarity about the format,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Moscow had earlier indicated that it would present its memorandum during the talks, but its failure to do so thus far has cast doubt on the sincerity of its intentions.

As the violence continues on both sides, the fate of the proposed peace negotiations remains unclear.

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