The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, on Friday condemned a Thursday attack on aid workers in southern Ukraine that left two dead and injured three others.

The Swiss nongovernmental aid group HEKS/EPER reported two of its employees were targeted in an attack late Thursday while conducting a field assessment in southeastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials later reported the two aid workers were French nationals killed in a drone attack in the town of Beryslav in the Kherson region.

The aid workers have not been identified.

In a statement, Brown said she was "profoundly distressed" by the deaths of the two aid workers and that her thoughts were with their families and colleagues "during this absolutely horrific time."

The humanitarian coordinator went on to say she was "shocked to hear the aid workers' vehicles were attacked in a manner similar to a tragic incident in Chasiv Yar Town, in the east of Ukraine just a week ago, when a humanitarian vehicle was hit, and an aid worker injured."

Brown said international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on humanitarian workers and "the repeated violations should be of grave concern to the world."

French President Emmanuel Macron called the attacks on the French aid workers "a cowardly and outrageous act."

"My solidarity goes out to all the volunteers who are committed to helping people," he wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on X that Russia "will have to answer for its crimes."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered condolences and expressed gratitude for the service of the French aid workers.

"Russian terror knows no boundaries or victims' nationalities," he said on X. "The brave French aid workers assisted people and we will always be grateful for their humanity."

Ukrainian, Canadian diplomats meet

Also Friday, Canada's foreign minister, Melanie Joly, was in Kyiv where she met for talks with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

At a joint news conference following their talks, the two top diplomats announced a new international coalition to bring back Ukrainian children taken illegally to Russia.

Kuleba also said he is continuing to work to use frozen Russian assets to help pay for Ukraine's recovery from the war.

Attack cuts off electricity

Earlier Friday, military officials in Ukraine said Russia launched two dozen drones overnight that targeted the country's critical infrastructure, knocking out electricity to areas in central Ukraine and the northeast.

Ukraine energy provider Ukrenergo said Friday that damage was sustained at its facilities, resulting in a cutoff of electricity in the city of Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Agence France-Presse quoted officials in northeastern Kharkiv as saying some 64 towns and settlements had also been left without electricity because of Russian shelling. Ukraine said its forces shot down 11 Russian drones.

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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