Russian Missiles Kill Five In Ukraine
Russia pounded Ukraine overnight with four missiles and 140 drones in one of its heaviest aerial barrages in recent weeks, killing at least five people, including two children, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
Ukraine’s air force reported that 88 of the drones were intercepted, but strikes still hit 25 locations across six regions.
Zaporizhzhia was among the hardest hit, with what officials described as “another Russian ballistic strike.”
“This is exactly why Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire; he enjoys shelling peaceful cities while talking about a supposed desire to end the war. So far, we see no such desire,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, posted on X.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said an overnight drone strike tore into a residential area, killing five people, including a one-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.
The governor warned that the casualty figures could rise as rescue operations continued. Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov confirmed that 20 people were injured, six of them children.
“The number of injured is continuously rising,” he said.
AFP reports that Images released by Ukraine’s Emergency Service showed a five-storey apartment block reduced to rubble as emergency workers pulled survivors from the wreckage.
Elsewhere, Russian strikes hit the Sumy region near the Russian border, wounding two civilians, a 57-year-old woman and a 43-year-old driver, in separate bomb and drone attacks, regional military chief Oleg Grygorov said.
Authorities warned that Russia’s use of multiple drones was stretching Ukraine’s air defences, urging western partners to help strengthen defences.
The latest strikes come as Zelenskyy and several European leaders prepare to meet President Donald Trump in the United States, for talks on ending the war.
Just ahead of the meetings, Trump said Ukraine’s NATO membership and the reclamation of Crimea were “off the table.” These comments however are in contrast with Ukraine’s position on regaining all occupied territory.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected pressure to give up land, stressing that about 20 percent of Ukraine remains under Russian control.
Russia has recently advanced in the east while proposing to stop its attacks if Ukraine withdraws from Donbas, even as Ukraine maintains control over major cities in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Russian Missiles Kill Five In Ukraine is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
