KYIV \u2013 Drone strikes killed one person in Ukraine and another in Russia, officials said Saturday, ahead of fresh talks next week aimed at ending the war.<\/p>\n
An elderly woman died when a Russian drone hit a residential building in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Ukraine\u2019s State Emergency Service said. <\/p>\n
In Russia, a civilian was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a car in the border region of Bryansk, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said.<\/p>\n
The attacks came a day after a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed two people and wounded five, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, another round of U.S.-brokered talks<\/a> between envoys from Russia and Ukraine will take place next week in Geneva, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor<\/a>, officials in Moscow and Kyiv said on Friday.<\/p>\n The discussions will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.<\/p>\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, confirmed the new round of negotiations.<\/p>\n The talks take place against a backdrop of continued fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line<\/a>, relentless Russian bombardment of civilian areas<\/a> of Ukraine and the country\u2019s power grid<\/a>, and Kyiv\u2019s almost daily long-range drone attacks<\/a> on war-related assets on Russian soil.<\/p>\n Previous U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, most recently two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi<\/a>, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the future of Ukraine\u2019s Donbas industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces. <\/p>\n Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked American and European allies for helping Ukraine by providing air defense systems that protect infrastructure like power plants and \u201csave lives.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cRussian attacks happen almost every night in Ukraine and at least once a week, massive strikes,\u201d he said, speaking in English. \u201cWithout you Americans, Europeans, and everyone who stands with us, it would have been very, very difficult to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n He reiterated his belief that security guarantees for Ukraine must come before any peace agreement with Russia.<\/p>\n Zelenskyy said last week that the United States has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline<\/a> to reach a deal. Previous deadlines given by U.S. President Donald Trump have passed largely without consequence.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Morton reported from London. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n