Ukraine Drone Strikes Kill Three People in Russia’s Rostov

Ukraine carried out a drone attack on Russia’s Rostov region overnight, killing three people, including two crew members of a cargo ship, and injuring three others, authorities said. The strike also killed a civilian in Bataysk, destroyed two homes, and damaged an apartment under construction.

The attack coincided with a European Union summit in Brussels where leaders debated releasing 210 billion euros of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the EU to act, saying the move would signal to Moscow that continuing the war next year would be futile.

Belgium, which holds the majority of the frozen Russian funds through Euroclear, has expressed concerns about potential legal liability if Russia challenges the release. Other EU countries could override Belgium, but experts say a consensus is unlikely, and a fallback plan for the EU to raise the money itself has been shelved.

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Meanwhile, US-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue. Negotiations are scheduled in Miami this weekend to discuss a 28-point peace framework, though differences persist over Ukraine’s territorial concessions and security guarantees. Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that Moscow would achieve its war objectives, criticising Western warnings of potential conflict as “hysteria and a lie.”