Key points
- 54 including children were injured in the strikes: Authorities claim
- Zelensky urges Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with concrete action
- Strikes left a five-storey building on fire in Slobidskyi district: Mayor Terekhov
ISLAMABAD: Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed two people and wounded 54 including children early Wednesday, authorities claimed.
“Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, later adding that 37 people were wounded and “several people were rescued from houses engulfed in flames,” AFP reported.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said eight children were wounded in the attack.
“Three-year war”
Russia has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end its three-year war, with Kyiv launching retaliatory attacks deep inside Russian territory, AFP reported.
After a previous overnight barrage of more than 300 drones and seven missiles on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with “concrete action.”
“Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,” AFP cited Zelensky as saying.
Kharkhiv, which lies less than 50 kilometers from the Russian border, has been hit by a surge in large-scale nighttime attacks over the past week.
Wednesday’s strikes left a five-storey building on fire in Slobidskyi district, while several houses were hit in Osnovyansky district, Mayor Terekhov said.
He said “there may be people trapped under the rubble.”
“Prisoner of war swap”
The attack came after Russia pummelled the city on Saturday in what Terekhov called “the most powerful attack” on Kharkiv since the start of the war.
Four people were killed and more than 50 injured as homes and apartment blocks were hit overnight and guided bombs were dropped on the city on Saturday afternoon.
On Tuesday, one person was killed and four others wounded in a drone attack that destroyed a convenience store in the Russian region of Belgorod, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, according to France 24. Nevertheless, the two sides carried out a second prisoner of war swap on Tuesday.
The deal should see the freeing of all captured soldiers under the age of 25, as well as those who are sick or severely wounded, though neither side has specified the number of soldiers involved, France 24 reported.
