Russia: Ukrainian Strike Kill 01/02 06:49

   

   (AP) -- Russian authorities said Friday the death toll from a Ukrainian 
drone strike they said struck a cafe in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine's 
Kherson region rose to 27 people. Kyiv denied attacking civilian targets.

   Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman of Russia's main criminal investigation 
agency, the Investigative Committee, said in a statement that a Ukrainian drone 
strike on a cafe and hotel in the village of Khorly, where at least 100 
civilians were celebrating New Year's Eve overnight into Thursday, killed 27 
people, including two minors. A total of 31, including five minors, were 
hospitalized with injuries.

   A criminal probe on the charges of carrying out an act of terrorism has been 
opened, Petrenko said.

   A spokesman for Ukraine's General Staff, Dmytro Lykhovii, denied attacking 
civilians. He told Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne on Thursday that 
Ukrainian forces "adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law" and 
"carry out strikes exclusively against Russian military targets, facilities of 
the Russian fuel and energy sector, and other lawful targets."

   Lykhovii said that General Staff published an explicit list of targets that 
the Ukrainian army struck on the night of New Year's Eve that did not include 
occupied parts of the Kherson region.

   Lykhovii noted that Russia has repeatedly used disinformation and false 
statements to disrupt the ongoing peace negotiations.

   The Associated Press could not independently verify claims made about the 
attack.

   Zelenskyy appoints intelligence chief to new role

   In Kyiv, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed the head of 
military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff Friday, 
following the resignation of Andrii Yermak after a corruption scandal over a 
month ago.

   In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine now needs to focus on security 
issues, the development of its defense and security forces, and the diplomatic 
track of negotiations -- areas that will fall under the remit of the Office of 
the President headed by Budanov.

   Zelenskyy dismissed Yermak, the previous head of the Office of the 
President, on Nov. 28 after anti-corruption officials conducted searches at his 
residence as part of an investigation into alleged graft in the energy sector.

   Budanov 39, is one of the country's most recognizable and popular wartime 
figures and has led Ukraine's military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, 
since 2020.

   A career military intelligence officer, he rose through the ranks of 
Ukraine's defense establishment after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, 
taking part in special operations and intelligence missions linked to the 
conflict in eastern Ukraine. He was reportedly wounded during one such 
operation.

   Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Budanov has become a prominent 
public face of Ukraine's intelligence effort, regularly appearing in interviews 
and briefings that mix strategic signaling with psychological pressure on 
Moscow. He has frequently warned of Russia's long-term intentions toward 
Ukraine and the region, while portraying the war as an existential struggle for 
Ukrainian statehood.

   Under Budanov's leadership, the GUR expanded its operational footprint, 
coordinating intelligence, sabotage and special operations aimed at degrading 
Russian military capabilities far beyond the front lines. Ukrainian officials 
have credited military intelligence with operations targeting Russian command 
structures, logistics hubs, energy infrastructure and naval assets, including 
strikes deep inside Russian territory and occupied areas.

   His appointment to head the Office of the President marks an unusual shift, 
placing a serving intelligence chief at the center of Ukraine's political and 
diplomatic coordination. Zelenskyy has framed the move as part of a broader 
effort to sharpen the state's focus on security, defense development and 
diplomacy as the war with Russia continues into its fourth year.

   "Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to 
achieve results," Zelenskyy said.

   Witkoff hails progress in negotiations

   Russia's accusations against Ukraine come as the U.S. leads a diplomatic 
push to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Moscow 
alleged that Kyiv launched a long-range drone attack against a residence of 
Russian President Vladimir Putin in northwestern Russia overnight from Sunday 
to Monday.

   Kyiv has called the allegations of an attack on Putin's residence a ruse to 
derail ongoing peace negotiations, which have ramped up in recent weeks on both 
sides of the Atlantic.

   In his New Year's address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 
a peace deal was "90% ready" but warned that the remaining 10%, believed to 
include key sticking points such as territory, would "determine the fate of 
peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live."

   Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that he, Secretary of 
State Marco Rubio and Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner had a 
"productive call" with the national security advisers of Britain, France, 
Germany and Ukraine "to discuss advancing the next steps in the European peace 
process."

   Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia conducted what local authorities called "one of 
the most massive" drone attacks at Zaporizhzhia overnight.

   At least nine Russian drones struck the city, damaging dozens of residential 
buildings and other civilian infrastructure, head of the regional 
administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram on Friday. There were no 
casualties, the official said.

   Overall, Russia fired 116 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according 
to Ukraine's Air Force, which said that 86 drones were intercepted, while 27 
more have reached their targets.

   The Russian Defense Ministry reported Friday that its air defenses 
intercepted 64 Ukrainian drones overnight over multiple Russian regions.

   Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia's Belgorod region on the border with 
Ukraine, on Friday also accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out a missile 
strike on the city of Belgorod. Two women were hospitalized with injuries, 
Gladkov said. The strike shattered windows in multiple residential buildings 
and damaged an unspecified "commercial" facility and a number of cars, 
according to the official.