Sawt Falasteen - Russia launches deadly strike in east Ukraine amid stalled peace talks

Ukraine said it had received the bodies of more than 1,200 soldiers, handed over by Moscow, part of a repatriation deal the two sides agreed at talks last week.

Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hardline demands -- rejected by Kyiv as "ultimatums" -- to halt its three-year invasion.

The northeastern city of Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border, again bore the brunt of the attack.

"Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight," Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said three people had been killed.

"Every new day now brings new cowardly strikes from Russia, and almost every strike is demonstrative. Russia deserves increased pressure," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media after the shelling of Kharkiv.

AFP journalists in the city saw damaged apartment blocks, burnt out cars and streets strewn with debris after the attacks.

Olena Khoruzheva had run into a hallway -- away from the windows -- with her two children when she heard the incoming drones.

"The younger one lay on the floor, hands on his head. I was on top of him," the 41-year-old pharmacist told AFP.

"We heard it approaching, silence, and then we were thrown against the wall ... there were more explosions, then we heard people shouting 'Help! Help!"

Her 65-year-old neighbour was one of those killed in the attack.

Early on Wednesday morning, an AFP reporter saw first responders removing the body of one killed resident from a block of apartments in a black body bag.

- Stalled peace talks -

Ukraine's air force said that Russia had fired 85 drones overnight -- fewer than in recent days.

On the front line, Moscow's troops have been advancing steadily.

The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that more units had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region, where it is mounting an offensive for the first time in its 40-month-long invasion.

US President Donald Trump has been urging the two sides to strike a peace deal, but has seen little progress.

Zelensky has in turn called on the West to increase the pressure on Russia with hard-hitting economic sanctions that he says would limit its capacity to wage war.

He is expected to press that message with Trump and European leaders at a G7 summit in Canada, which kicks off on Sunday.

Leaders from several countries across southeastern Europe were expected in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after it was targeted by Russian strikes.

Two rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in ending the war.

Russia has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded that Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join NATO.

But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russia had handed over the corpses of 1,212 killed soldiers and was working to identify them.

- Returned bodies -

Russia's top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the handover and said Russia had received "the remains of 27 Russian soldiers."

Ukraine did not say how many bodies it returned to Russia, which says Western estimates of the number of its deaths are untrue.

Moscow spent days accusing Kyiv of not wanting to collect the bodies, after it said that they had been delivered to the border in refrigerated trucks on Saturday.

The two countries swapped groups of captured soldiers on Monday and Tuesday, though neither said how many were freed.

Fresh exchange of "severely wounded" was set for Thursday, Medinsky has said.

Moscow's defence ministry said that 32 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.

Both sides have downplayed any chance of progress at talks in Istanbul.

While not rejecting diplomacy, Zelensky called it "pointless" to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation -- whom he previously dismissed as "empty heads" -- since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week called Kyiv a "terrorist" regime and questioned why he should negotiate with them.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST