Kharkiv hit by 12 drone strikes in one night, 46 civilians wounded
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that drone strikes had hit 12 sites during the overnight assault.
A night-time drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv city injured 46 people and left widespread destruction, after Russian drones struck a residential apartment block and set off multiple fires across the area.
The attack, which also damaged several locations across four central districts, added to the growing concern over the repeated air assaults in the country’s northeast.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that drone strikes had hit 12 sites during the overnight assault, spreading fear and chaos in Ukraine's second-largest city.
The city, which lies just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, has become a frequent target in recent weeks.
"There were no military targets, nor could there be any. Russia strikes dwellings when Ukrainians are in their homes, when they are putting their children to bed," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
He condemned the repeated attacks and urged Ukraine’s allies to act faster in strengthening the country’s air defences.
Zelenskyy expressed frustration with what he described as a slow response from international partners.
"As the world delays decisions, almost every night in Ukraine turns into a horror that results in the loss of lives. Ukraine needs stronger air defences. Stronger and real decisions from our partners: the United States, Europe, all our partners who seek peace," he said.
Among the wounded was an 11-year-old child, with eight people taken to hospital for further treatment, according to Terekhov.
The drone strike not only damaged the high-rise apartment block but also hit a nearby house.
Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said emergency response teams worked through the night, navigating dangerous conditions amid fears of follow-up attacks.
Photos posted online showed firefighters battling flames that engulfed the building’s facade. Cars were seen burning in the streets, surrounded by broken glass and rubble.
Elsewhere, officials reported additional Russian attacks. In southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, four people were injured in a combined drone and artillery strike on settlements to the east of Nikopol.
Meanwhile, in the southern Kherson region, a resident was killed after attempting to move a downed drone that exploded.
The latest wave of attacks came as Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed its air defence forces had intercepted ten Ukrainian drones in a single hour, eight over the Bryansk region near the border and two above the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
On Ukraine’s eastern frontier, acting Rostov region governor Yuri Slyusar said their defences had downed Ukrainian drones across five districts.
He noted that although fragments from the destroyed drones caused some property damage, there were no casualties reported.
Despite Moscow’s repeated denials of deliberately targeting civilians, thousands of Ukrainian lives have been lost since the war began in February 2022.
Civilian infrastructure and homes have increasingly come under fire as the conflict drags on, with strikes like the one in Kharkiv adding to the toll.