Russian drone and missile attacks kill at least 4 in eastern Ukraine

At least four people were killed in eastern Ukraine and more than two dozen were injured, including a baby and a 14-year-old, after Russia launched drone-and-missile and bomb attacks Saturday, Ukraine officials said. 

Russia launched 215 missiles and drones on Kharkiv, the war-torn nation’s second-largest city, in the early hours of Saturday, killing three people and wounding more than 40 others, Ukrainian officials said. 

Later in the day, Russia dropped bombs on Kharkiv’s city center, killing at least one more person and injuring five. 

“What the Russians want is the complete destruction of life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday after the attacks. 

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“In more than 11 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they have brought only one new thing to our land, the most widespread Russian ‘legacy,’ ruins and death,” Zelenskyy added. “We must continue resisting this. I thank everyone around the world who is helping. The Russians are preparing to continue the war and are ignoring all peace proposals. They must be held accountable.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would work to strengthen its air defense, adding, “We urgently need positive signals from the United States regarding air defense systems. We are still waiting for a response to our request to purchase systems that can help.”

He also thanked other European countries for sending supplies.

“We must also achieve results in joint production of air defense systems and missiles. This is absolutely essential for our whole Europe,” he added. “Only time separates us from that result, and what matters most is shortening that time.”

“This is another savage killing,” he wrote on X along with graphic photos of some of the injured. “Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city — there is even a children’s railway nearby. This makes no military sense.”

He called the attack “pure terrorism. And this has been going on for more than three years of the full-scale war. This cannot be ignored. This cannot be turned a blind eye to. And this is not some kind of game. Every day, we lose our people only because Russia feels it can act with impunity. Russia must be firmly forced into peace.” 

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Last Sunday, Ukraine launched a surprise drone attack on Russian territory that destroyed 40 Russian planes, according to Kyiv. 

In his evening address, Zelenskyy said 117 drones had been used in the operation. He claimed the operation was headquartered out of an office next to the local FSB, the Russian intelligence agency.

On Friday, Russia launched another drone attack on six territories in Ukraine that killed six people, including a baby, and injured 80, according to Ukraine officials.

The attack came after President Donald Trump had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the Russian leader said he planned to retaliate. 

Trump responded to the attacks Friday, telling reporters on Air Force One, “Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. … When I saw it, I said, ‘Here we go, now it’s going to be a strike.’”

On Thursday, Trump also compared the Russia-Ukraine war to children. 

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart, they don’t want to be pulled,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

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Ukraine and Russia have so far held two rounds of peace talks with few tangible results.