KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A large Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring 21, local officials said. The barrage – the latest in near daily widescale attacks – included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the three-year war.
The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon – especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down and neutralized 87 drones and seven missiles.
Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
“To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the latest attack.
Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said it was “the most powerful attack” on the city since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kharkiv’s regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said two districts in the city were struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. Among the injured were two children, a baby boy and a 14-year old girl, he added.
The attack on Kharkiv comes one day after Russia launched one of the fiercest barrages on Ukraine, striking six Ukrainian territories and killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv.
A U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, though the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. The sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting.
Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn´t budged from its demands.
U.S. President Donald Trump said this week that Putin told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine´s attack on Russian military airfields last Sunday.
Trump also said that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump’s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.
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