logo
At least two killed in intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv

At least two killed in intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv

Irish Timesa day ago

A nine-minute-long
Russian
drone attack on
Ukraine
's second largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed at least two people and injured 54, including five children, regional officials said on Wednesday.
The intense strikes with 17 drones sparked fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused other damage in the city close to the Russian border, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said. 'There are direct hits on multi-storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport,' Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.
'Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken.'
A Reuters witness saw emergency rescuers helping to carry people out of damaged buildings, administering care and firefighters battling blazes in the dark.
READ MORE
Nine of the injured, including a two-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalised, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on Telegram. He added that the strikes hit also a city trolley bus depot and several residential buildings.
There was no immediate comment from Russia. Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, withstood Russian full-scale advance in the early days of the war and has since been a frequent target of drone, missile and guided aerial bomb assaults.
The attack followed Russia's two biggest assaults of the war on Ukraine this week, a part of intensified bombardments that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent attacks in Russia.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbour in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
'We are holding on. We are helping each other. And we will definitely survive,' Terekhov said. 'Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken.'
Russia's air defence systems destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.
Half of the drones were downed over the southern Voronezh region, while the rest were intercepted over the Kursk, Tambov, Rostov region and the Crimean Peninsula, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. - Reuters

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Three killed in Ukraine as Russia continues drones offensive
Three killed in Ukraine as Russia continues drones offensive

Irish Examiner

time4 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Three killed in Ukraine as Russia continues drones offensive

Russian forces pummelled Ukraine with drones and other weapons on Thursday, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire, officials said. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched a barrage of 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed. Ukraine's police said two people were killed and six were injured over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said. A rescue worker evacuates a woman from a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 15 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight. Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, nurseries and other civilian infrastructure. 'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Mr Terekhov said. The Russian military has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and north-eastern parts of the 600-mile front line. While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. Ukraine hit back with drone raids, with Russia's defence ministry saying air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early on Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks. The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as non-starters, making any quick deal unlikely. Speaking at a meeting of leaders of south-east European countries in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union to toughen its latest package of sanctions against Russia. He argued that lowering the cap on the price of Russian oil from 60 US dollars (£44) to 45 dollars (£33) as the bloc has proposed is not enough. German defence minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Thursday on an unannounced visit, noting that the stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present', according to German news agency dpa. Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.

Russian attacks kill three as drones hit Kharkiv and other parts of Ukraine
Russian attacks kill three as drones hit Kharkiv and other parts of Ukraine

Irish Examiner

timea day ago

  • Irish Examiner

Russian attacks kill three as drones hit Kharkiv and other parts of Ukraine

Russian forces launched a new drone assault across Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding 64 others, Ukrainian officials said. One of the hardest-hit areas was the city of Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine, where 17 attack drones struck two residential districts, mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Emergency crews, municipal workers and volunteers worked through the night to extinguish fires, rescue residents from burning homes, and restore gas, electricity and water services. 'Those are ordinary sites of peaceful life — those that should never be targeted,' Mr Terekhov wrote on Telegram. Three people were confirmed killed, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov. In a statement, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that 64 people had been wounded and re-iterated his calls for greater international pressure on Moscow. 'Every new day now brings new vile Russian attacks, and almost every strike is telling,' he said. 'We must not be afraid or postpone new decisions that could make things more difficult for Russia. Without this, they will not engage in genuine diplomacy. And this depends primarily on the United States and other world leaders. Everyone who has called for an end to the killings and for diplomacy must act.' Kharkiv has been frequently targeted in recent months as Russia launched repeated large-scale drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure. Moscow's forces have launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. The attacks come despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. The two sides traded memorandums at direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions. However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as non-starters make any quick deal unlikely. Wednesday's strikes also caused widespread destruction in Kharkiv's Slobidskyi and Osnovianskyi districts, hitting apartment buildings, private homes, playgrounds, industrial sites and public transportation. Images from the scene published by Ukraine's Emergency Service on Telegram showed burning apartments, shattered windows and firefighters battling the blaze. 'We stand strong. We help one another. And we will endure,' Mr Terekhov said. 'Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken.' Ukraine's air force said that 85 attack and decoy drones were fired over the country overnight. Air defence systems intercepted 40 of the drones, while nine more failed to reach their targets without causing damage. In other developments, Russia has returned 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in line with an agreement reached during the talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian delegations. Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for Treatment of Prisoners of War said that the bodies came from Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as Russia's Kursk region where Ukrainian forces waged an incursion. It said that authorities would work to determine their identities as quickly as possible.

At least two killed in intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv
At least two killed in intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv

Irish Times

timea day ago

  • Irish Times

At least two killed in intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv

A nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine 's second largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed at least two people and injured 54, including five children, regional officials said on Wednesday. The intense strikes with 17 drones sparked fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused other damage in the city close to the Russian border, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said. 'There are direct hits on multi-storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport,' Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app. 'Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken.' A Reuters witness saw emergency rescuers helping to carry people out of damaged buildings, administering care and firefighters battling blazes in the dark. READ MORE Nine of the injured, including a two-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalised, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on Telegram. He added that the strikes hit also a city trolley bus depot and several residential buildings. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, withstood Russian full-scale advance in the early days of the war and has since been a frequent target of drone, missile and guided aerial bomb assaults. The attack followed Russia's two biggest assaults of the war on Ukraine this week, a part of intensified bombardments that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent attacks in Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbour in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. 'We are holding on. We are helping each other. And we will definitely survive,' Terekhov said. 'Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken.' Russia's air defence systems destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday. Half of the drones were downed over the southern Voronezh region, while the rest were intercepted over the Kursk, Tambov, Rostov region and the Crimean Peninsula, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. - Reuters

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store