Kharkiv, Ukraine. Russia launched an overnight barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and killing at least seven people in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Scale of the overnight attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure across the country.
“There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.
“Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support should continue,” Zelenskiy said, urging partners to continue air defence and weapons supplies.
Air defence response and impacts
Ukrainian air defence units shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles, the air force said. It said nine missiles and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites.
Kharkiv strike and casualties
Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv regional governor, said the city was targeted by both Russian drones and missiles, and that seven people, including two children, were killed after a Russian ballistic missile hit a five-storey residential building.
Hanna, a resident of the destroyed building, told Reuters: “When we arrived here 20 minutes after the explosion, I thought I was going to have a stroke. I couldn’t string two words together, and my legs were buckling.”
“It’s good that I wasn’t there with my child and that my father was with me. It was ordinary people who lived there. What were they targeting?”
White smoke rose from the ruins and emergency workers carried a body in a black sack, Reuters TV footage showed.
What would you want Ukraine’s partners to do in response to these strikes?