Ukraine claims that Russian military forces attacked Kharkiv overnight with drones and missiles, resulting in fatalities, while media published destroyed multiple rocket launchers in the Kharkiv region.
According to the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired a total of 32 Iranian-made Shahed drones and six missiles into Ukraine overnight, leaving at least six people dead and ten others wounded in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
“As of this morning, there are 6 dead and 10 wounded as a result of the night strike on Shevchenkivskyi district,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram. He further added: “The attack hit residential areas – at least nine high-rise buildings, three dormitories, a number of administrative buildings, a shop, a petrol station, a service station and cars were damaged.”
The Kharkiv regional chief prosecutor said two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security advisor for a team of German journalists were among those injured. The missiles came from the direction of Belgorod, Russia.
Earlier, Russian officials said a Ukrainian attack on the provincial capital of Belgorod hours earlier killed 18 people and injured 111. Furthermore, Ukraine, on one of the days of the presidential election, ostentatiously fired a series of salvo missiles at the border city of Belgorod to show the Kremlin’s failure to protect its citizens, but it only served to reinforce the Russians’ position that Moscow is on the right course.
The Russian military did not comment on the overnight strikes, but said Ukraine fired Vampire missiles at Russia on Saturday morning. Russian media, in turn, published footage from an unmanned aerial vehicle showing Ukrainian Uragan MLRSs being hit this night near the Planeta Mall in the Kharkiv region:
Ukrainian social media also published footage of the destroyed equipment:
Kharkiv is an essential city as it is located 26 kilometres from the Russian border, making this large city an attractive target for a retaliatory offensive by Russian forces. Ukrainian forces managed to repel the offensive in 2022, but now the success of the defence remains in doubt as the country faces severe shortages of ammunition and financial aid, even though the head of NATO wants to approve a resolution to help Ukraine, but still meets with mixed views.
In addition, in early April, Ukrainian media published footage of people fleeing the eastern part of Kharkiv amid reports of airstrikes on the power grid and Russian troops advancing along the front line.
