Ukraine updates: Malta hosts Kyiv-backed peace talks

Ukraine State Border Guard Service said Saturday it was deploying drones to prevent conscripts from fleeing abroad.

Fourteen men were stopped from leaving the country illegally on Friday in the southern region of Odesa on the border with Moldova, the border agency said.

A drone was used for aerial reconnaissance in four cases, the agency said. Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 were banned from leaving last year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

So far, border guards have halted more than 20,000 conscripts from leaving the country, mostly at the borders with Romania and Moldova, according to the border agency.

A Ukrainian drone crashed into a nuclear waste storage facility at the Kursk power plant in western Russia, damaging its walls, Russia's foreign ministry said, calling on other governments to condemn Kyiv.

"We call on all governments to issue a strong condemnation of Kyiv's barbaric actions, which are extremely dangerous and could lead to irreparable consequences," said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Zakharova said one explosive-packed drone had damaged the nuclear waste facility's walls on Thursday while another two had hit an administrative building complex.

The Kursk plant said after the attack that there were no casualties and that radiation levels and operations were normal.

Thursday night's incident came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack in Ukraine's western Khmelnitskyi region had probably targeted the area's nuclear power station.

The third round of peace talks backed by Ukraine has kicked off in Malta, with representatives from more than 50 countries.

During the two-day meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping to garner support for his 10-point plan to end the war.

Kyiv sees the growing list of participants as a sign that global support remains intact despite the US Congress halting new military aid for Ukraine.

"This meeting is a powerful signal that unity is preserved around Ukraine," Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said earlier this week. 

The Malta summit expects to host national security and policy advisors.

Russia has condemned the gathering as "a blatantly anti-Russian event" and refused to attend.

"Obviously such gatherings have absolutely no perspective, they are simply counterproductive,"  Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.

Two other peace summits were held in Jeddah and Copenhagen earlier this year.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Twitter that heavy fighting had ensued around the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, but led to no conclusion.

Russia had deployed up to eight brigades in the region, which have possibly suffered some of the highest number of casualties, the update said.

The ministry also said that Russia's nationalist "mil bloggers," or military bloggers, had been critical of the military's tactics in the operation.

Russian forces attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson injuring at least 7 people, local officials said Friday. Three people were admitted to the hospital.

About 10 residential buildings were damaged, according to the head of city administration Roman Mrochko's Telegram post.

"In the evening the entire city trembled. The enemy targeted the very center of Kherson," Ukraine's Emergency Services said on Telegram. The post said two women in their 70s and 80s had been rescued.

A town called Beryslav further north in the Kherson Region was also shelled, wounding one person, said Ukraine's Suspilne public broadcaster.

Two combat drones were intercepted over the area. It is unclear yet whether the attack was with missiles or drones.

Shelling was also reported in the nearby region of Mykolaiv, where Ukrainian air defense said they intercepted three Ch-59 air-launched guided missiles.