Three Dead And 22 Injured As Russia Launches Intense Nighttime Assault On Kharkiv

Russia launched a massive overnight assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing at least three people and injuring 22 others, including a 1.5-month-old infant, Ukrainian officials said Saturday.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov described the attack as “the most powerful” the city has endured since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Writing on Telegram, Terekhov said the city was struck simultaneously by drones, missiles, and guided aerial bombs in a coordinated and sustained nighttime bombardment.

“Dozens of explosions rocked Kharkiv throughout the night,” Terekhov reported.

“Multi-storey residential buildings, private homes, educational institutions, and infrastructure facilities were hit.”

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and located just a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border, has faced relentless attacks over more than three years of war.

But this latest assault marked a significant escalation in both scale and coordination.

Photos released by local authorities and Reuters showed charred buildings, burnt-out vehicles, and emergency responders carrying the wounded and digging through debris.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a civilian industrial facility in the city was targeted with an extraordinary combination of 40 drones, one missile, and four guided bombs, sparking a major fire.

Syniehubov warned that some individuals might still be trapped under the rubble.

The Ukrainian military reported that Russia launched a total of 206 drones, two ballistic missiles, and seven other missiles across multiple Ukrainian regions overnight.

Air defence units managed to shoot down 87 drones, while another 80 were either diverted using electronic warfare systems or were decoys, the military said.

In total, ten locations across Ukraine were hit during the overnight barrage, signalling a broader escalation in Russian aerial operations.

Ukrainian officials have called for increased international support to bolster the country’s air defences as Russia intensifies its campaign against civilian infrastructure and urban centres.