Russia has intensified its assault on Ukraine, launching overnight drone and missile strikes that killed three people, including a child, and wounded dozens in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The deadly attack comes at a sensitive moment as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington for high-stakes peace negotiations involving the White House.
Ukrainian police confirmed that the drone strike struck a five-story apartment building in Kharkiv, leaving three people dead and at least 18 others injured, many of them children. Rescue teams warned that more victims could still be trapped under the rubble.
Mayor Igor Terekhov said the city was also hit by a ballistic missile earlier in the day, which left 11 more people injured. The relentless bombardment did not stop at Kharkiv. In the neighboring Sumy region, a Russian bomb and drone strike injured a 57-year-old woman and a 43-year-old driver, according to regional military chief Oleg Grygorov.
The wave of Russian strikes coincides with Zelensky’s latest diplomatic push in the United States, where he is seeking firm commitments from President Joe Biden and other Western allies. But the talks are clouded by comments from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who declared just hours before Zelensky’s arrival that Ukraine should forget about reclaiming Crimea or joining NATO.
Read also:
- Russian Language to be reintroduced in Nigerian universities – Envoy
- Trump, Putin to meet for high-stakes talks on Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal
- Trump hits India with extra 25% tariff for buying Russian oil
Despite Russia now occupying nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and pressing further into the east, Zelensky has rejected any deal that would force Ukraine to surrender land. Moscow has floated a proposal that Ukraine pull back from the embattled Donbas region in exchange for a ceasefire along the southern frontlines, particularly in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, two key Black Sea port cities still under Kyiv’s control.
The latest attacks serve as a grim reminder that while world leaders debate peace terms in Washington, civilians in Ukraine continue to pay the heaviest price in a war that shows no sign of ending soon.
