One killed, dozens wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv in Ukraine

KHARKIV, Ukraine: At least one person was killed and 71 wounded in Russian drone attacks on the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials said on Monday, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for more support from Kyiv’s allies.

One person was also killed in a drone attack on the southern city of Odesa and at least 20 were wounded in a morning drone strike on Zaporizhzia in the southeast, regional officials said.

In Kharkiv, apartment buildings, a kindergarten and the regional draft office were damaged in two waves of strikes, local officials and the military said.

During the second wave, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said six Shahed attack drones had struck Ukraine’s second biggest city within 10 minutes, aimed “at residential streets, at cars, at people”.

He said the 71 people wounded in the two attacks included seven children.

Andriy Prenko, 61, said he was having breakfast in his kitchen when he heard a drone approach.

“I woke my wife and goddaughter up and took them to the bathroom. I stood behind the partition wall and then there was an explosion,” he told Reuters in his damaged apartment.

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“Glass shattered and the windows were blown off. Then there was another one (attack).”

Kharkiv has frequently been targeted since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russia has increased the intensity of aerial attacks in recent weeks, and carried out more missile and drone strikes across Ukraine overnight.

Russian airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians during the war. Moscow says it does not target civilians directly although it does target infrastructure that it says supports Ukraine’s war effort. Ukraine has killed a smaller number of civilians in attacks on Russian territory and Russian-held parts of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy urged Kyiv’s Western partners to deliver on pledges to boost Ukrainian defences.

“We are strongly counting on our partners to fully deliver on what we have agreed,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “Air defense remains the top priority for protecting lives.”