Swarms of Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro late on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 46, officials said.
Kharkiv, which lies in the northeast near the Russian border and is Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been the target of regular Russian drone and missile attacks since Moscow began its full-scale invasion more than three years ago.
The attack on the city late on Tuesday injured at least 45 people, including two children and a pregnant woman, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
The attacks came as the United States, which had tried to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, said that it would step back as a mediator unless Moscow and Kyiv put forward concrete proposals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for an immediate ceasefire lasting at least 30 days.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said several areas of the city, which has been devastated by successive attacks, had been targeted on Tuesday. About 1.2 million people live in Kharkiv, compared to nearly 2 million before Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
“There have been 16 strikes on Kharkiv,” Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“A high-rise apartment block was hit as were private homes, a medical facility and civilian infrastructure.”
Public broadcaster Suspilne posted photos of firefighters tackling flames.
Suspilne said one drone struck the eighth floor of an apartment building. It said two medical facilities had been hit.
In Dnipro, in Ukraine’s southeast, drones triggered fires and killed a 53-year-old man and injured another person, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.
“A difficult night for Dnipro,” Lysak wrote. “Private homes have been damaged.”
He said that nine Russian drones were destroyed over the region overnight.
The full scale of the overnight attack on Ukraine was not clear. Both sides deny targeting civilians.
A mass Russian drone attack in Dnipro last month killed four people and sparked a large fire in a hotel and restaurant complex and other buildings.
REUTERS
