At least four individuals lost their lives and another four sustained injuries during Russia’s overnight attacks on Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kharkiv and Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials on Tuesday.
In Kharkiv, four fatalities occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday due to Russia’s assault on the city’s Osnovianskyi district, as reported by Mayor Ihor Terekhov via his Telegram messaging channel. This incident followed a Russian guided bomb attack on Kharkiv late Monday, which inflicted significant damage on the Derzhprom building, a prominent city landmark from the 1920s.
In Kyiv, debris from a destroyed Russian drone injured four individuals and ignited a residential building, according to the capital city’s mayor. Among those injured in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, one person was hospitalized, Mayor Vitali Klitschko noted on his Telegram channel, adding that several cars were also ablaze.
A Reuters witness observed smoke rising from the residential area in the city’s west. Photographs shared by Kyiv’s military administration on its Telegram channel depicted a residential building and nearby cars engulfed in flames. The administration stated that Ukraine’s air defense units were actively working to repel a Russian drone attack on the city, and drone debris also fell in the Sviatoshynskyi district in Kyiv’s west. However, no reports of damage were immediately available.
The scale of Russia’s overnight attack remains unclear, and there has been no immediate response from Russia regarding these assaults.
Moscow continues to deny targeting civilians in the conflict that began with its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022. The two-and-a-half-year war has resulted in thousands of deaths, primarily among Ukrainians, and has led to widespread destruction across cities and villages.