Russian drone attack kills two in Kharkiv

KHARKIV, Ukraine: A Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s second-largest city killed two people and wounded 35 late on Saturday, officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Kyiv’s partners to respond to such attacks while seeking peace in the three-year-old war.

The strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv, which damaged a military hospital among other structures, came as Ukraine seeks strong backing from Western allies to pressure Russia into ending its full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said five children were wounded in the attack, which also damaged several dozen residential buildings and a dormitory housing war refugees.

Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that Russia had launched 111 drones and one ballistic missile overnight, causing damage in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa and Donetsk regions. It said air defences shot down 65 drones and jammed another 35.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a daily bulletin its forces had struck 140 districts in Ukraine, including military airfields and ammunition depots. It did not mention the hospital. Both sides have accused one another in recent days of violating a U.S.-brokered partial ceasefire, and Russia has continued sending regular swarms of drones over Ukraine.

In a statement on Sunday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine expected a response from the US and other allies to the near-daily attacks, adding that Moscow had fired more than 1,000 drones in the past week.