Russia on Thursday said Kyiv was behind a drone strike on a hotel in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region that killed at least 20 people celebrating the New Year, accusing it of “torpedoing” peace attempts.
The accusation came at a crunch moment, after weeks of diplomacy aimed at brokering an end to the nearly four-year war, and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was “10 percent” away from a peace deal.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, eastern Ukraine decimated and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia launched its all-out offensive in 2022.
According to the Russia-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, “the enemy” fired three drones that struck a cafe and hotel on the Black Sea coast in Khorly where “civilians were celebrating the New Year”.
A building gutted by fire, piles of smouldering rubble and charred bodies were seen in pictures he posted on Telegram.
Kyiv has not commented on the allegations.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a probe into the attack, which had “killed more than 20 people and injured many more”. The Russian foreign ministry said the death toll was still being clarified.
According to Saldo, more than 100 revellers gathered at the hotel the night of the attack.
The Russian foreign ministry accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack”, called on international organisations to condemn it and warned Kyiv of “appropriate consequences” in a statement.
It also accused the Ukrainian authorities of “deliberately torpedoing any attempts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict”.
Zelensky meanwhile said Russia was carrying the war “into the New Year” with more than 200 drones fired overnight, mainly targeting energy facilities.
“A significant number of consumers” had their electricity cut, said Ukraine’s power operator Ukrenergo. Railway and port infrastructure was also damaged in the latest barrage.
In the Kharkiv region, Russia struck a park with a zoo, wounding one person. The attack also wounded animals, including lions, and killed pheasants and parrots, the park’s owner Oleksandr Feldman told Ukrainian media.
– New talks in sight –
Ukraine came under intense pressure in 2025, both from Russian bombardment and on the battlefield, where it has steadily ceded ground to Russia’s army.
An AFP analysis based on Ukrainian air force data showed a slight fall in overnight Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in December.
Russia fired at least 5,134 drones in overnight attacks in the final month of 2025, six percent less than the month before, while the number of missiles declined by 18 percent in the same period, according to the data.
However, the same data showed Ukraine destroyed a smaller share of the total sum of missiles and drones in December — 80 percent, compared with 82 percent in November.
US President Donald Trump, who regularly complains he does not receive credit as a peacemaker, has engaged in talks with both sides in a bid to end the fighting.
Ukraine says Russia is not interested in peace and is deliberately trying to sabotage diplomatic efforts to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Moscow earlier this week accused Ukraine of attempting a drone attack on one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences, drawing a sharp rebuttal from Kyiv, which said there was no “plausible” evidence of such an attack.
Ukraine’s allies have also expressed scepticism about Russia’s claim — but Moscow on Thursday said it would hand over to the United States “decrypted data” from the drone that was allegedly targeting the secluded residence.
“These materials will be transferred to the American side through established channels,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.
Zelensky said on Tuesday he would hold a meeting with leaders of Kyiv’s allies from the so-called coalition of the willing next week in France.
The summit will be preceded by a meeting of security advisers from the allied countries on Saturday in Ukraine.
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