Russia attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at night and in the evening with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people and injuring more than 60, including a baby, local officials said on Saturday.
One of Ukraine’s largest cities, Kharkiv is located just a few dozen km from the Russian border and has been under constant Russian shelling during more than three years of war.
“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” city mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on the Telegram messenger early on Saturday.
Dozens of explosions were heard in the city through the night and Russian troops were striking simultaneously with missiles, drones and guided aerial bombs, he said.
Russia’s Kharkiv attack kills four, wounds at least 60 in ‘most powerful’ strike since start of war
Israeli businessman buys Ukrainian property formerly owned by Seán Quinn
Ukrainian commander’s final dispatch: ‘I had hoped my service and sacrifices would be enough, but they haven’t’
The Baltics are rapidly becoming a cauldron of EU growth when other parts of Europe are stagnating
Multistorey and private residential buildings, educational and infrastructure facilities were attacked, Mr Terekhov said.
Photos by local authorities and Reuters showed burnt and partially destroyed houses and vehicles, and of rescuers carrying those injured to safety and removing debris.
Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said that one of the city’s civilian industrial facilities was attacked by 40 drones, one missile and four bombs, causing a fire,
He also said there may still be people under the rubble.
In the evening, Russian aircraft once again attacked Kharkiv with guided bombs, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy called “another brutal murder”.
“It was a brutal blow to the city in broad daylight, and in fact, they have been attacking our city of Kharkiv for the entire day,” Mr Zelenskiy said in his evening statement.
“Last night, there was a massive drone strike on Kharkiv, and now there are aerial bombs. Dozens of people have been injured in the past 24 hours.” he said.
Earlier, the Ukrainian military said Russia launched 206 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles against Ukraine overnight.
It said its air defence units shot down 87 drones while another 80 drones were lost – in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them – or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.
Ten locations were hit, the military said.
Separately, Ukraine has indefinitely postponed accepting the bodies of its killed soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said.
This was counter to an agreement between the two countries at a second round of peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, where they said they would swap more prisoners and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers.
In the Moscow region, two people were injured after a drone attack by Ukraine overnight and on Friday, governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram, with nine drones shot down.
The defence ministry said that since midnight, air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 36 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory, including the Moscow region.
Ukraine’s air forces also shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet on Saturday morning, its military said without providing further details. Russian forces have not yet commented on the matter while Reuters could not independently verify the report.
A Ukrainian drone attack deep inside Russian territory last weekend likely damaged about 10 per cent of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official said in a YouTube podcast set for broadcast later on Saturday. – Reuters
