KYIV, Ukraine, April 23, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A series of Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least six people overnight after hits on multiple locations, officials in both countries said Thursday.

Moscow has fired hundreds of drones at its neighbour almost nightly since the start of the invasion, with Kyiv regularly retaliating with its own strikes.

The head of Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region said Russian attacks on residential areas killed three people and wounded at least ten, including girls aged nine and 14.

Emergency services published video showing firefighters tackling a blaze at a high-rise apartment block, with several floors blown out and the facade cratered.

In the western region of Zhytomyr, a woman was killed when a Russian drone hit civilian transport infrastructure, the regional administration said.

In Russia's Samara region, hundreds of kilometres from the front line, a Ukrainian drone hit the roof of an apartment building. One person was killed, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorischev said on Telegram.

A Ukrainian strike also killed a person in the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Both countries' militaries said they downed more than 100 enemy drones fired overnight.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, in what has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow under US mediation have been at a standstill since the start of the war in the Middle East, which has diverted Washington's attention.