Seven dead in Russian drone attack in Kharkiv

Kyiv, February 10

A Ukrainian couple and their three small children were killed in a fire after a Russian drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv hit an oil depot, triggering blazes and damaging residential houses, officials said on Saturday. An elderly couple living in the same street as the family were also killed, and three other people were wounded in the city.

The drones struck late on Friday, causing several large fires, and burning at least 15 residential houses in the east of Kharkiv, said Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov.

The Ukrainian air force said that air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters shot down 23 out of 31 Russian-launched drones, which were targeting the Kharkiv region and also the Odesa region in the south.

Oleh Kiper, governor of Odesa region, said the drone attack injured four people and damaged industrial facilities, cars, and some port infrastructure.

In Kharkiv, Synehubov said that several drones hit the oil depot causing the fuel leakage. Firefighters and rescuers worked through the night to extinguish fires and clear through the debris.

Synehubov also said that Russian drones hit a restaurant in the small town of Velykyi Berluk, some 100 km (60 miles) from Kharkiv. He reported no casualties there.

Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has said its forces do not deliberately target civilian sites.

Kharkiv has been under regular attack since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been a frequent target of Russian assaults in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Russia said it had repelled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Russian “civilian transport ships” on Friday evening in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, a key artery for grain and oil exports from both countries.

Civilian vessels on the Black Sea have not generally been targeted since Moscow ordered its troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but last July both sides said they would start treating ships headed to the other’s ports as potential carriers of military cargo.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app, Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukraine had attempted what it called “a terrorist attack on Russian civilian transport ships using semi-submersible naval drones”.

It said Russian patrol boats and warplanes had averted the attack, destroying one Ukrainian naval drone by artillery fire and disabling the rest by electronic warfare. No Russian civilian or military vessels were damaged, it said.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Last July, Russia refused to renew a Turkish-brokered deal providing for safe grain exports through the region and said all ships heading to Ukrainian ports would be treated as potential carriers of military cargo. A day later, Ukraine said it would adopt the same stance on ships bound for Russian and Russian-controlled Ukrainian ports. It was not clear precisely where the attack took place. The southwestern part of the Black Sea adjoins Turkey's Bosphorus Strait through which cargoes leaving the sea travel. Ukraine has in recent months mounted a series of drone and missile attacks on Russian military targets in the Black Sea, sinking at least one naval vessel and damaging others. — Reuters

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#Russia #Ukraine