Ukraine says 5 killed, 20 injured due to Russian drone attack in Kharkiv city

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Monday that at least five people were killed and 20 others injured due to an overnight Russian drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

“The number of injured from the attack by enemy drones in Kharkiv has increased to 20. Five people died, including two children,” Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said in a statement on Telegram.

Six children were injured due to the attack, which targeted the city’s Industrialnyi district, Synyehubov said, adding that the fatalities included a 1.5-year-old girl.

The governor also noted that four Russian drones struck a five-story apartment building in the city’s southeastern district, sparking fires on three of the building’s floors.

Search and rescue efforts in the city are underway, he said.

Late Sunday, the governor also said the city was struck by a ballistic missile, injuring ​​11 people, including a 13-year-old child, and damaging more than 10 residential buildings.

Ukraine’s Air Force claimed on Telegram that the country’s air defenses shot down 88 out of 140 Russian drones overnight, and that four Iskander-M ballistic missiles were launched by Moscow.

Russian authorities have not immediately commented on the attack or the claims.

Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Russian border, has been regularly targeted by airstrikes in the nearly three-and-a-half-year Ukraine war.