A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed two people and wounded 35 late Saturday, officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Kyiv’s allies to respond to such attacks while pushing for peace in the three-year war.
The strike hit a military hospital and other structures in the eastern city, underscoring Ukraine’s calls for stronger Western support to pressure Russia into ending its full-scale invasion.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov said five children were among the wounded, and the attack damaged several dozen residential buildings and a dormitory sheltering war refugees.
One survivor, who identified himself as Anton, described running to an adjacent room in his apartment when a drone struck, showering him with shrapnel.
“I had already bid farewell to life,” said the 22-year-old, whose head and left hand were heavily bandaged.
Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that Russia had launched 111 drones and one ballistic missile overnight, causing damage in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa and Donetsk regions. It said air defenses shot down 65 drones and jammed another 35.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a daily bulletin that its forces had struck 140 districts in Ukraine, including military airfields and ammunition depots. It did not mention the hospital.
Both sides have accused each other in recent days of violating a U.S.-brokered partial cease-fire, and Russia has continued sending regular swarms of drones over Ukraine.
In a statement Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine expected a response from the U.S. and other allies to the near-daily attacks, adding that Moscow had fired more than 1,000 drones in the past week.
“Russia is dragging out the war, and we are providing our partners with full information on the strikes the Russian army is carrying out and the actions it is preparing for,” he said.
Zelenskyy has also warned in recent days that Russia is planning a spring offensive in parts of northeastern Ukraine.
A peace effort led by President Donald Trump, whose administration has sought closer ties with Russia, has sparked fears in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be pressured into making far more concessions than Moscow.
During a summit in Paris last week, European leaders vowed to strengthen Kyiv’s army, while France and Britain tried to expand support for a planned foreign “reassurance force” in the event of a truce with Russia.
Following the Kharkiv attack, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Russia was flouting a cease-fire that Ukraine was following.
“Ukraine has agreed to the cease-fire proposed by the United States. But Russia continues its war crimes, just yesterday in Kharkiv,” he wrote on X.
“Who can still believe that Vladimir Putin wants peace?”
