A Russian drone attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the middle of the night, killed at least two people and injured 57, including seven children, regional officials said on Wednesday. The offensive lasted about nine minutes.
Intense attacks with 17 drones have caused fires at 15 apartments from a five -story residential building and caused other damage to the city near the border with Russia, the mayor of Ihor Terekhov said.
“There are direct impacts on multi -storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, companies and public transportation,” Terekhov said in the Telegram Message Application.
“Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burned, windows are broken,” he added
A Reuters witness saw rescue teams helping to remove people from damaged buildings and providing care, while firefighters fought the flames in the dark.
Nine of the injured, including a 2 -year -old girl and a 15 -year -old boy, were hospitalized, Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said in Telegram. He added that the attacks also reached a trolleybus station and several residential buildings.
The Ukrainian army said Russia launched 85 at night, 40 of which were slaughtered.
The Ukrainian forces also said nine drones were lost-a reference to the use of electronic war by the Ukrainian military to redirect them-or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.
“The main areas of air strike are the regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odessa,” the military said in the messaging app.
There were no immediate comments from. Kharkiv, in the northeast of Ukraine, resisted the advance in a large Russian scale in the early days of the war and has since been a frequent target of drone, missile and guided air pump attacks.
The night attack occurred after the two biggest Russian attacks on the war against Ukraine this week, part of an intensified bombing that Moscow claimed to be a retaliation for recent Kiev attacks in Russia.
Both sides deny to target civilian civilians that Russia launched against its smaller neighbor in February 2022. But thousands of civilians died in the conflict, the vast majority composed of Ukrainians.
“We are resisting. We are helping ourselves. And we will certainly survive,” Terekhov said. “Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it can’t be broken,” he concluded.
