A Russian drone attack on a residential area in Kharkiv has killed seven people including a toddler and a 16-year-old boy overnight, Ukrainian authorities have said, as the United States presses Kyiv to accept a quick deal to end the war that Moscow started.
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 Zelensky was preparing for talks with Donald Trump in Washington later today 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 4 August.
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 yesterday, Mr 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.
Mr 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.
20 dead in fire at Russian factory
The death toll from an unexplained blast last week at a production facility in Russia’s Ryazan region has jumped to at least 20 dead with another 134people injured, local emergency services have said.
Pavel Malkov, governor of the Ryazan region that lies just southeast of Moscow, said on Friday that the incident had been triggered by a fire breaking out inside a workshop at the factory.
But it was unclear from Russian media reports what caused the fire or what exactly the factory was producing. Official Russian sources gave no details beyond efforts to find and treat the injured.
“As of August 18, 20 people died as a result of the emergency incident,” the local emergency service headquarters said in a post on Telegram.
“There are 134 injured, of which 31 patients are in hospitals in Ryazan and Moscow, while 103 patients are undergoing outpatient treatment.”
