Russia unleashed 17 drones on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing three people and wounding 60 others – among them seven children – as part of a broader wave of intensified strikes across Ukraine.
Kharkiv, just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, bore the brunt of Russia’s latest aerial onslaught.
The attack ignited fires in 15 apartments of a five-story residential block, reduced playgrounds and public transport to wreckage, and turned cars into charred skeletons.
Emergency workers pulled bodies from rubble, while medics rushed injured residents – including a 2-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy – to hospitals.
"There are direct hits on multi-storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. "Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken."
Terekhov called it the worst bombardment since the war began in 2022.
The attack follows a similar strike last Saturday and is part of what Kyiv believes is a renewed Russian offensive, with Moscow rejecting recent calls for an unconditional ceasefire and instead issuing what Ukrainian officials call “ultimatums.”
Olena Khoruzheva, a 41-year-old pharmacist, was sheltering in her hallway with her two children when the explosions ripped through her neighborhood.
“We heard the drones approaching. Silence, then a blast,” she said “We were thrown against the wall... then we heard screams – ‘Help! Help!’” One of her neighbors, a 65-year-old woman, was among the dead.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 85 drones overnight, fewer than in previous days. Forty were shot down, and several were either redirected or deemed drone decoys. The military said Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Odesa were the main targets.
In retaliation, Kyiv launched its own drone attacks on Russian territory. Moscow’s defense ministry claimed 32 drones were intercepted.
Peace efforts remain frozen. Two rounds of talks in Istanbul yielded no breakthrough. Russian President Vladimir Putin has labeled Ukraine’s government a “terrorist regime” and dismissed negotiations, demanding Kyiv surrender territory and drop its NATO ambitions – conditions President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called nonstarters.
Despite prisoner swaps involving more than 1,000 soldiers this week, Zelenskyy insists that continued sanctions and military pressure are the only paths to meaningful dialogue.
“We are holding on. We are helping each other. And we will definitely survive,” said Mayor Terekhov. “Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken.”
In a brutal nine-minute drone blitz, Russia pummels Kharkiv with 17 strikes, killing 3, injuring 60 – including 7 kids – as shattered homes, scorched buses, and torched playgrounds mark a city still unbroken.
