Russian drone attack kills 7 in Kharkiv, Ukraine says
Six children aged 6 to 17 were among 20 other people injured in the attack on Ukraine's second largest city, Oleh Synehubov, governor of the wider Kharkiv region, wrote on Telegram.
The attack came as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy was preparing for talks with Donald Trump in Washington later on Monday amid European fears the US president could try to pressure Kyiv into accepting a peace settlement favourable to Moscow.
The air force said Russia launched 140 drones against Ukraine overnight, the largest total recorded in a single night since August 4.
Kharkiv, which lies near northeastern Ukraine's border with Russia, has been the target of Russian drone and missile attacks throughout the war.
A ballistic missile attack shattered around 1,000 windows in various buildings in the city on Sunday, Synehubov said. Some residents had to be evacuated from their homes, officials said.
Reuters witnesses saw medics attending to residents on a street and rescuers inspecting damage to residential buildings.
"Russia is a murderous war machine that Ukraine is holding back. And it must be stopped through transatlantic unity and pressure," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X after the attack.
He said Russia was continuing to kill civilians despite peace efforts.
Russia says it does not deliberately target civilians. Thousands have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia fired four missiles overnight as well as the drones, the air force said. It said 88 drones were downed and reported impacts at 25 locations in six different regions.
Seventeen people were injured in a morning missile attack that struck unspecified critical infrastructure in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.
In the Black Sea region of Odesa, an attack caused a large fire at a fuel and energy infrastructure facility, requiring a major firefighting effort, the governor said.
Two people were also injured in strikes in the northern region of Sumy, where at least a dozen homes and an educational institution were damaged, authorities said.
Reuters could not independently verify the weapons used by Russia. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Trump, who hosted President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for talks aimed at ending the war, has urged Kyiv to make a deal with Moscow, stating, "Russia is a very big power, and they're not."
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Arabian Post
5 hours ago
- Arabian Post
Prospects Of Ukraine Peace Deal Brighten After Trump-Zelensky Meeting
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Middle East Eye
10 hours ago
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Dubai Eye
12 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Overnight Russian attack shows Putin does not want peace, Ukraine says
Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with drones overnight, the city mayor said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace. The reported assault came a day after US President Donald Trump met European leaders and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, saying the US would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. After the meeting on Monday, Trump said he telephoned Putin and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents, with the aim of reaching a peace deal. "At the very same time when Putin was assuring Trump over the phone that he seeks peace, and when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was holding talks at the White House with European leaders about a just peace, Putin's army launched yet another massive attack on Kremenchuk," Vitalii Maletskyi, mayor of the city that lies in the Poltava region, said on the Telegram. "Once again, the world has seen that Putin does not want peace — he wants to destroy Ukraine," he said. The overnight attack on Ukraine was the largest so far in August with Russia launching 270 drones and 10 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force. Maletskyi said scores of blasts shook the city, targeting energy and transport infrastructure, leaving hundreds of people in the Poltava region without power. The Ukrainian air force said it downed 230 drones and six missiles but recorded strikes at 16 locations. Poltava Governor Volodymyr Kohut said that the attack damaged administrative buildings of a local energy infrastructure operation. "Fortunately, there were no casualties," Kohut said on Telegram. He said that in the Lubny district nearly 1,500 residential and 119 commercial customers were left without power. A Tuesday morning drone attack by Russia on Ukraine's Chernihiv region also damaged infrastructure with power cuts reported in parts of the northern region, according to Governor Viacheslav Chaus. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides have been targeting infrastructure key to the military in their strikes during the war on each other's territory, including energy infrastructure.
