Kyiv Drone Attack Kills Two, Shakes Region

A Russian drone barrage on Kyiv turned deadly overnight, killing two people and wounding 22; Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 16 of the wounded were hospitalized, and the first victim died in hospital hours later. Debris from an intercepted drone slammed into a store in the capital's Solomyansk district, adding to the damage scattered across the city. The attack's reach forced Poland to scramble jets and briefly shut Rzeszow and Lublin airports, a reminder of how the war keeps spilling toward NATO's border. Kyiv's infrastructure ministry sent investigators to tally damage to transport and energy networks, while Ukrainian forces hit back, striking a drone warehouse of Russia's Rubikon unit and several drone-control centers in Donetsk. Near Dobropillia, the Azov Brigade said it blocked a Russian attempt to outflank the town and threaten supply lines. Diplomacy brought no breakthrough: the Kremlin's Dmitry Peskov said there are still no preconditions for peace talks, even as he again suggested President Zelensky travel to Moscow to negotiate. Separately, in what observers call a prisoner-for-sanctions swap, Azerbaijan pardoned a French citizen convicted of espionage days after the EU removed billionaire Alisher Usmanov from its sanctions list.