Kharkiv, Ukraine. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed a pregnant woman and two other people, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday. In Russia-annexed Crimea, authorities said air defenses were repelling drone attacks.
Latest attacks in Kharkiv region
An overnight missile attack on the town of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region killed three people, including a 22-year-old pregnant woman, regional prosecutors said on Telegram. The attack damaged residential buildings, garages and shops, and six more people were injured, they said.
In the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest, a Russian drone attack led 16 people to seek medical assistance, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Officials posted photos showing a building on fire, firefighters battling the flames and burnt-out cars.
Crimea reports drone attack
In Sevastopol in Russia-annexed Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet, defense systems were repelling a drone attack, the local Russian-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram.
Context of escalating strikes
The strikes follow large air attacks by Russia on Ukraine in recent weeks. Kyiv has also intensified long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, contributing to fuel shortages in Crimea and elsewhere.
Diplomatic contacts and statements
Late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had a “positive” telephone conversation with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. He welcomed their willingness to work actively toward a settlement of the war in the coming weeks.
The latest attacks came as Zelenskiy was returning from talks in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, who said they were ready to support ceasefire talks.
Last week, Zelenskiy published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin proposing face-to-face talks on ending the war, now in its fifth year. The proposal was quickly rejected by Putin.
“There are different people around Putin. Half of them want to continue this war and the other half want to stop it,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Guardian that he posted on X. “Businessmen understand that the Russian economy is in a terrible situation.”
Putin said last week at an annual business forum in St Petersburg that although Ukrainian attacks had caused damage, there was no threat to Russia’s economy.
