Overnight Russian drone attack kills at least seven in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed
An overnight Russian drone attack has killed at least seven people, including three children, in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv, officials say.
Regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram on Saturday three children, aged seven, four, and six months, were among the victims after the strikes hit at least 15 houses, causing large-scale fires.
Kharkiv, about 30km (18 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, has often felt the brunt of Russia’s winter campaign of long-range strikes that commonly hit civilian areas.
On January 23, a barrage of missiles struck Kharkiv and two other Ukrainian cities in one of the heaviest bombardments since the start of the year. At least 11 people were killed as about 5,000 windows in 222 buildings were broken by the blasts and shockwaves throughout the region, officials said.
It marked what the United Nations called “an alarming reversal” of a trend last year that saw a drop in civilian casualties from Moscow’s attacks.
The city with a pre-war population of 1.5 million is Ukraine’s most vulnerable urban centre. Russia lies north and east of it, and the border of Moscow-annexed Luhansk region is about 150km (90 miles) to the southeast.
