Russian drone attack kills two in Ukraine's Kharkiv

AFP

A Russian drone strike on Ukraine's second-largest city killed two people and wounded 35 late on Saturday, officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Kyiv's partners to respond to such attacks while seeking peace in the three-year-old war.

The strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv, which damaged a military hospital among other structures, came as Ukraine seeks strong backing from Western allies to pressure Russia into ending its full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said five children were wounded in the attack, which also damaged several dozen residential buildings and a dormitory housing war refugees.

One survivor, who identified himself as Anton, described running to an adjacent room in his apartment when a drone struck and showered 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 on 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 defences shot down 65 drones and jammed another 35.

Both sides have accused one another in recent days of violating a U.S.-brokered partial ceasefire, and Russia has continued sending regular swarms of drones over Ukraine.

In his nightly video address on Saturday, just as the Kharkiv attack was unfolding, Zelenskyy said Ukraine expected a "serious response" from Western countries to the nearly daily attacks.

"Our partners must understand that these Russian strikes target not only our people, but also all international efforts, diplomatic efforts aimed at ending this war," he said.

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.

French foreign affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X on Sunday: "Ukraine has agreed to the ceasefire proposed by the United States. But Russia continues its war crimes, just yesterday in Kharkiv. Who can still believe that Vladimir Putin wants peace?"

A peace effort led by US President Donald Trump, whose administration has sought closer ties with Russia, has sparked fears in Kyiv that Ukraine could be pressured into making far more concessions than Moscow.

More from International news

  • US prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione

    U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance division Brian Thompson in New York last year.

  • UN warns window to find Myanmar quake survivors closing

    Aid groups in Myanmar on Tuesday described scenes of devastation and desperation after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, stressing an urgent need for food, water and shelter and warning the window to find survivors was fast closing.

  • Trump administration begins mass layoffs at health agencies

    The Trump administration has fired staff at U.S. health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, as it embarked on its plan to cut 10,000 health jobs, according to sources familiar with the situation and a health official.

  • Israel says it 'eliminated' Hezbollah operative in Beirut strike

    The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah operative in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs early on Tuesday, while three other people were reported killed and seven injured, further testing a shaky four-month ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

News