RUSSIAN INFERNO
Strike kills 7 in Ukraine
A Russian drone strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv sparked massive fires that destroyed over a dozen homes and killed at least seven people, including children, Ukrainian officials said Saturday.
Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Russia hit an oil depot in the nation’s secondlargest city Friday night with Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones, causing a fuel leak that sparked blazes engulfing 15 homes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Russia over the bloody attack, which he said killed a family of five, along with another couple.
“Terrorists must lose the war they started. Russia must be held accountable for every life it has harmed and ruined,” he wrote.
Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the National Police in the region, said the children were ages 7, 4 and 10 months.
Over 200 emergency service responders worked through the night to contain the blaze, and at least 50 people were evacuated, Syniehubov said, noting at least three were wounded. As of Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people were without power.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 31 drones Friday night targeting the Kharkiv and southern Odesa regions, 23 of which were downed.
Syniehubov said Friday night’s drone strikes also hit a cafe in the village of Velykyi Burluk, sparking a fire, but there were no casualties.
Frequent target
Odesa regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said Friday’s drone attack injured four in the area, in addition to damaging industrial and port infrastructure as well as cars.
Kharkiv has been a frequent target of Russian assaults since the outbreak of the war in February 2022, and the city has been attacked several times by Moscow’s forces in recent weeks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry trumpeted that it had foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack Friday evening on Moscow’s “civilian transport ships” in the southwestern part of the Black Sea. It claimed Russian patrol boats and warplanes prevented the attack by taking out a Ukrainian naval drone.
Turkish F-16 fighter jets stationed in NATO member Romania were ordered into the air Saturday after Russian drones struck the Odesa region, Romania’s Defense Ministry said. The ministry, which condemned Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River, said no intrusions into Romania’s airspace were detected.