Russian drones strike Ukraine’s second-largest city
Illia Novikov |
A Russian drone barrage has targeted the centre of Kharkiv, injuring nine people and damaging a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Mothers with newborns were being evacuated to a different medical facility, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
He did not say whether anyone at the hospital was among the injured.
Russia’s recent escalation of long-range Shahed drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which often also include ballistic and cruise missiles as well as powerful glide bombs, has brought renewed urgency to efforts to improve Ukraine’s air defences after more than three years of war.
“There is no silence in Ukraine,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday after the overnight Kharkiv bombardment.
Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has endured repeated and intensifying drone attacks in recent weeks, as have many other regions of the country.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said Thursday.
Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month in 2024, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is pressing hard on parts of the 1000km front line, where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskiy urged Ukraine’s Western partners to quickly enact pledges of help they made at an international meeting in Rome on Thursday.
Ukraine desperately needed more US-made Patriot air defence systems to stop Russian missiles and more interceptor drones to bring down the Russian-made Shaheds, he said, after Russia reportedly expedited drone production.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday that talks with US President Donald Trump have been “very constructive”, even though the administration has given conflicting signals about its readiness to provide more vital military aid.
Ukraine had asked foreign countries to supply it with another 10 Patriot systems and missiles, Zelenskiy said, with Germany ready to buy two systems and Norway agreeing to buy one, which would be passed on to Ukraine.
Trump said late on Thursday the US was sending weapons to other NATO countries, which are paying Washington for them and giving them to Ukraine.
In an interview with NBC, Trump did not specifically refer to Patriot systems.
Among the pledges made in Rome was extra money from Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, who said his home nation “stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine because a fair go is in our DNA”.
The mining magnate’s Minderoo Foundation has committed more than $A30 million to Ukraine since 2022, with a focus on protecting the country’s vital agricultural sector with moves such as clearing unexploded mines.
Trum said he would make “a major statement” on Russia on Monday, without elaborating, but Zelenskiy has long pleaded for tighter economic sanctions on Moscow.
After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts in Kyiv, authorities announced Friday they are establishing a comprehensive drone interception system under a project called “Clear Sky.”
The project includes a 260-million-hryvnia ($A9 million) investment in interceptor drones, operator training, and new mobile response units, according to the head of the Kyiv Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko.
Zelenskiy appealed to foreign partners to help Ukraine accelerate the production of the newly developed interceptor drones, which have proved successful against Shaheds.
AP
