KYIV, Ukraine — A wave of Russian missile and drone strikes overnight across Ukraine killed at least seven people and wounded more than 40 others, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, as attacks targeted civilian neighborhoods and energy infrastructure in multiple regions.
Ukrainian authorities reported widespread damage from the barrage, with particular devastation in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. “Russia continues its terror against civilians,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on social media. “Hundreds of drones and missiles rained down on Ukraine overnight. Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night.”
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was hit by dozens of projectiles, killing three people and injuring 21, including a baby and a 14-year-old girl, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. In the surrounding Kharkiv Oblast, a person was injured in Kupyansk, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
According to Syniehubov, Russian forces launched a sustained assault on Kharkiv using 48 Shahed-type drones, five guided aerial bombs, four multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), and three missiles. Strikes hit the city’s Kyivskyi and Osnovianskyi districts, damaging homes and infrastructure.
In southern Ukraine, a married couple aged 56 and 54 were killed in Kherson after Russian forces shelled the port city and surrounding region, Kherson Oblast Governor Olexandr Prokudin said. Ten others were wounded in the area.
Further east, in Donetsk Oblast, regional officials reported two people killed and eight others injured in separate strikes, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Another person was reported injured in Sumy Oblast, which borders Russia.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched a total of 215 projectiles during the night, including 206 Iranian-designed drones, two ballistic missiles, six guided aircraft missiles, and a cruise missile. Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted 174 of those threats.
“There were strikes throughout Ukraine — in Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil, Odesa, and other regions,” Foreign Minister Sybiha said. “People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged.”
The latest escalation comes amid sustained Russian efforts to cripple Ukraine’s power grid and exert pressure on the civilian population as the war enters its third year. Ukrainian officials continue to appeal for increased Western support to bolster air defenses.
“To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” Sybiha added. “Russia is a terrorist state, and it must be called such. It has already done more than enough to earn this title.”
