Russian Drone Strike on Kharkiv Apartment Block Kills Five, Including Child, as War Intensifies
A Russian drone attack on a five-storey residential building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Monday killed five people, including a toddler, and left more than a dozen others wounded, Ukrainian officials said.
The strike, which occurred just before dawn, reduced part of the building to rubble and ignited fires across at least three floors, according to regional governor Oleg Synegubov. He said Russia launched four drones at the apartment block.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service released videos showing rescue workers struggling to free a resident trapped beneath debris, while other footage captured flames engulfing an upper floor.
The prosecutor’s office later confirmed the casualties, noting: “Five people were killed, including a girl around 18 months old. At least 18 others, including children, were injured or suffered acute shock.”
Hours before the drone strike, Kharkiv had already been targeted by a ballistic missile, which wounded at least 11 people, Mayor Igor Terekhov reported.
Russia also launched overnight drone attacks on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, setting fire to a fuel storage facility, regional governor Oleg Kiper said.
The wave of strikes comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky travels to Washington for high-stakes talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and European allies on ending the three-and-a-half-year war.
Just ahead of Zelensky’s arrival, Trump reiterated his position that Ukraine would not be able to reclaim Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, or join NATO as part of any future peace settlement.
Kyiv has consistently rejected such terms, with Zelensky vowing not to cede Crimea. Meanwhile, Russia, which has been making battlefield gains in recent months, has floated proposals for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas region in exchange for freezing the frontline in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where major cities remain under Kyiv’s control.
