Kyiv: At least seven people were killed as Russia launched a massive overnight drone attack across Ukraine on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials and emergency services.

The strikes came just ahead of ceasefire negotiations in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine and Russia are set to hold indirect, US-mediated talks on Monday to discuss a potential pause in long-range attacks on energy facilities and civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that a Ukrainian delegation would meet with US officials a day before the indirect negotiations, with technical teams set to discuss details of the proposed ceasefire.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 147 drones targeting multiple regions, including Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa, Donetsk, and the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 97 drones, while 25 others failed to reach their intended targets due to countermeasures.

Kyiv suffered heavy damage, with three people—including a five-year-old child—killed and ten others injured. Residents were jolted awake by extended explosions as air raid sirens blared for over five hours. The attacks caused extensive damage to residential buildings as Russian drones, and debris from those shot down, crashed into homes.

On Sunday morning, residents of Kyiv surveyed the destruction, expressing deep skepticism about the upcoming ceasefire talks. Standing amid the ruins of his damaged home in an old multistory building on Kyiv’s left bank, 37-year-old Dmytro Zapadnya dismissed the possibility of Russia honoring any ceasefire agreement, pointing to the devastation around him as proof of its true intentions.

“There is no point in signing anything (with Russians), because it will not be worth the cost of paper where you put this signature. Well, the only thing that is not very pleasant is that now the United States seems to have little understanding of our situation,” he said.

Elsewhere, four people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's Donetsk region, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said, including three who died in a strike on the front-line Ukrainian town of Dobropillya.

In a statement on social media, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said attacks such as the one in Kyiv were a daily occurrence for Ukraine.

“This week alone, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs, almost 1,100 strike drones and 15 missiles of various types were used against our people,” he said. “New solutions are needed, with new pressure on Moscow to stop both these strikes and this war.”

Also on Sunday, Russia's Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 29 over the region of Rostov and 20 more over southwestern Astrakhan. In Rostov, one person was killed and a car caught fire due to the Ukrainian drone attack, according to the area's temporary governor, Yuri Slyusar.

A woman also died in the Russian border village of Novostroyevka-Pervaya in the Belgorod region when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in which she was travelling.

The driver, the woman's daughter, was also seriously injured in the attack, said local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. (AP)