Ukrainian officials denounce ‘deliberate’ targeted shelling of hospital; Ukrainian president says US, Europe must respond to daily Russian drone attacks. What we know on day 1,131
Russian drones struck a military hospital, shopping centre, apartment blocks and other targets in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, late on Saturday, killing two people and injuring at least 25, local officials and the Ukrainian military said. On the Telegram messaging app, the military’s general staff said those injured included servicemen undergoing treatment in the medical centre. It accused Russia of having carried out a “war crime” and of “violating the norms of international humanitarian law” denouncing the “deliberate, targeted shelling” of the facility. Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, said 25 people were hurt, including a 15-year-old girl who is in serious condition.
An hour before the Kharkiv attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine expected a strong response from western countries to the near daily Russian drone attacks on its territory. Earlier, drones hit the south-eastern city of Dnipro, killing four people, and the central city of Kryvyi Rih, where nine others were injured. “We expect a response, a serious response. We are working to ensure there is a strong reaction, especially from America, Europe and all those in the world who rely on diplomacy,” said Zelenskyy. He said that Russia’s response to US ceasefire efforts had been inadequate “for too long”, and that Moscow needed to be pressured into a peace deal.
Zelenskyyalso said Russia had launched more than 170 drones into Ukraine overnight, striking targets in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Khmelnytskyi regions. He said that Ukraine was “maintaining active measures” to prevent Russia from advancing into Sumy and Kharkiv regions, and that that Ukrainian forces had taken “certain steps” in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area.
Russia on Saturday claimed the capture of two villages in eastern and southern Ukraine, pressing ahead with its advance amid stumbling efforts for a ceasefire. The defence ministry said Moscow’s forces captured the village of Shchebraki in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Panteleimonivka in the eastern Donetsk region. Russian forces also captured the settlement of Veselivka in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, Russian ...
