Man weeps over the body of loved one killed by Putin drone as Ukraine is blitzed by latest wave of Russian drones

The heartbreaking scene in Odesa captured on video shows a man screaming and sobbing as he throws himself over the body of a loved one killed when a Russian drone struck a car on the road. Two other people are seen crying at the scene as police officers and firefighters stand beside them.

The attack in Odesa was part of Russia's latest wave of drone assaults across Ukraine that killed several people overnight. In the northern Sumy region, Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported two fatalities from a drone strike on Telegram.

In Rivne, north-west Ukraine, five people were injured after a Russian drone hit an apartment building. A hospital in Kyiv was damaged in a separate Russian attack that caused a fire and forced people to seek shelter, with one person wounded.

In Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, a 17-year-old boy was killed in drone strikes, while four people wounded in the attack were rescued from under rubble, according to acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin.

Russian drone claims

Russia claimed it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones overnight, describing it as one of the largest swarms sent by Kyiv that left at least four people dead. The Russian defence ministry said aerial defense systems intercepted and destroyed 1,198 Ukrainian drones over more than 15 Russian regions.

Four people working in an industrial zone in southern Volgograd region died in the attacks, local authorities reported. The region is home to an oil refinery and a chemical factory.

Diplomatic efforts

The attacks came a day after intense shuttle diplomacy in US-led talks to end the war approaching its fifth year. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday before traveling to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

After meeting with Putin, Kushner announced that Moscow had agreed to 'include our European partners' in the next round of negotiations to address postwar European security arrangements alongside territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia.

Zelensky confirmed that Europeans would not be sidelined in the talks, stating: 'We are involving European representatives even more actively in diplomacy so that they can have an equal seat at the negotiating table. Ukraine always defends the interests of all of Europe.'

European leaders are now seeking an envoy to represent them in the peace talks, though there is no consensus on whether it should be one individual or more. The role and selection of such a representative remain unclear and contested.

European concerns

Ukraine is eager for European backup as it's reluctant to leave talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow's views. Russia opposes European involvement, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine's military effort.

European nations distrust US President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after previous tensions over trade, Greenland and conflicts. French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized: 'Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine. There is no more U.S. support.'

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham rejected the idea that Europe was being sidelined, stating: 'There are European voices in the room.' He added that leaders are determined to 'put a bit of a ring of steel around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of all of this to back him up to the hilt.'

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pushed for a common EU representative to speak with 'a single, authoritative voice,' criticizing seemingly uncoordinated initiatives by individual European leaders that could undermine European interests.