Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after a wave of Russian drones attacked several Ukrainian regions, including the capital, Kyiv.
The state RIA news agency said Russian investigators were looking into the attack early on January 10, claiming a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile hit the supermarket, killing two people.
Video on social media, which has been verified by RFE/RL, appears to show a massive explosion in an area where a small market is located.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the Russian accusation.
The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed-type strike drones in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhyzha, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya and Kherson regions.
In Kyiv, bright flashes and explosions were seen as defense systems intercepted several drones in the sky. No deaths were reported, though some damage from debris was seen at a high-rise residential building, military officials said.
Ukraine Invasion: News & Analysis
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As intense attacks and fighting on the front lines continue, diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict appear to be picking up momentum.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on January 10 that it expects Kyiv to have high-level talks with the White House once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in 10 days.
"We are waiting for a meeting between our presidents because for us the main thing is to work together with America... we are preparing for contacts at the highest and high levels immediately after the inauguration," ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhiy said.
The Kremlin said it remains willing to meet with Trump and that there has been progress in setting up a meeting after the new president is inaugurated on January 20.
"No conditions are required for this, just a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue is required," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow a day after Trump said a meeting was being set up between him and President Vladimir Putin, though he laid out no timeline.
"We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue, we welcome this," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in Rome on January 10 to meet Italian officials a day after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Ramstein, Germany. The UDCG is made up of about 50 partner nations that the U.S. Defense Secretary brought together to coordinate weapons support months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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