More than 20 people have been injured after Russian strikes on high-rise apartment blocks in Ukraine’s Kharkiv – the second consecutive night-time attack this week.
The bombs fell on Saturday night on the district of Shevchenkivsky, in Ukraine’s north-east, local governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Residential 16 and nine-storey buildings were destroyed, and seven more buildings were damaged, he added.
Twenty-one people were wounded, including an eight-year-old, two 17-year-olds and several older adults, according to Mr Syniehubov and Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov.
The attack came after another late on Friday injured 15 people, including a 10- and 12-year-old, as Russian air strikes hit three Kharkiv areas, Mr Terekhov said.
Ukrainian officials said that KAB-type aerial glide bombs – a retrofitted Soviet weapon that has for months laid waste to eastern Ukraine – were used in both attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike and urged Kyiv’s Western allies to send more weapons to help it “protect lives and ensure safety”.
“Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities, and we are working to convince our partners of this,” Mr Zelensky said on X, as he prepared to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Kyiv in the war.
And Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said on Sunday that Kyiv was in talks with partners in Europe to secure Swedish-made Gripen and European Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
Mr Umerov said that commitments were already in place for deliveries of US-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare counter-measures, the statement said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
