Russia intensified its assault on Ukrainian civilians overnight, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 individuals and injuring 94, despite Kyiv’s appeals for a ceasefire during the Easter period.

One of the most devastating attacks occurred when a Russian drone targeted a market in Nikopol, located in the Dnipro region, early Saturday morning. This strike claimed the lives of at least five people and left 27 others injured.

Among the critically injured was a 14-year-old girl. The injured victims were treated for shrapnel wounds, mine-explosive injuries, and burns, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

The Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General has initiated criminal proceedings for war crimes in connection with this attack. Since the onset of Vladimir Putin’s comprehensive invasion over four years ago, the office has recorded more than 210,000 such cases.

Photographs from the scene depict the devastation, with market stalls torn apart and roofs collapsed, as fires ravaged the shops. Meat and other goods were scattered across the floor amid the charred remains.

“Shops were mutilated,” Hanzha expressed on Telegram, reflecting the destruction caused by the attack.

In separate attacks in the Dnipro region, a five-month-old baby was among three people injured as flames from drones and aerial bomb strikes ripped through residential neighborhoods.

In Russia, two key Baltic oil export hubs were damaged after a series of ​Ukrainian drone attacks, forcing refineries to find ‌more expensive rail transport routes to other export terminals.

A Ukrainian drone and missile attack on southern ​Russia also killed at least one ‌person and injured four others.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced greater security co-operation with Turkey after meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul Saturday, — as Kyiv seeks ‌to leverage its wartime defense capabilities against Iranian drones.

In exchange, Erdogan vowed to continue supporting negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky is also expecting a visit from US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner for peace talks in Kyiv this month, Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, told Bloomberg News.

The delegation, which may include Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), could visit soon after Orthodox Easter on April 12 to resume peace talks that have been stalled by the fighting in the Middle East.

It would mark Witkoff and Kushner’s first visit on Ukrainian soil for talks, though the pair has gone to Russia multiple times to meet with Putin.

Ukraine has received requests from allies to stop its airstrikes on Russian oil refineries, Budanov said — which could give it some additional leverage in negotiations amid a sharp rise in global oil prices stemming from the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz.

A US official told Bloomberg News the trip is under discussion, but no dates have been confirmed yet.

With Post Wires