On Friday, Russian officials reported that a Ukrainian drone strike allegedly targeting a café in a Russian-controlled village within Ukraine’s Kherson region resulted in 27 fatalities. Ukraine, however, firmly rejected claims of targeting civilian areas.

Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for Russia’s primary criminal investigation body, the Investigative Committee, announced in a statement that the attack, which occurred in the village of Khorly, struck a café and hotel where more than 100 civilians had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Among the deceased were two minors, and 31 individuals, including five children, sustained injuries requiring hospitalization.

Petrenko further stated that the incident is being investigated under charges of terrorism.

In response, Ukraine’s General Staff spokesman, Dmytro Lykhovii, told the public broadcaster Suspilne that Ukraine maintains strict compliance with international humanitarian law, asserting that their military operations exclusively target Russian military assets, energy sector facilities, and other legitimate military objectives.

Lykhovii also mentioned that the General Staff had released a detailed list of targets that the Ukrainian military engaged on New Year’s Eve, which did not include any strikes in the occupied 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.

Russia’s accusations against Ukraine come amid a U.S.-led 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.