A pre-dawn Russian drone strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city killed five people, including a toddler, and injured at least 18 others on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Regional governor Oleg Synegubov said four drones targeted a five-storey apartment block in Kharkiv, near the Russian border. The assault collapsed part of the structure and ignited fires on at least three floors. Videos released by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed rescuers battling flames and digging through rubble to free trapped residents.
“Five people were killed, including a girl aged about one-and-a-half years old,” Ukraine’s prosecution service reported. Authorities added that several of the injured, including children, suffered severe shock as well as physical injuries.
The overnight strike followed a separate attack on the city just hours earlier, when a Russian ballistic missile wounded at least 11 people, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said.
Russia also expanded its assault southward, striking Ukraine’s Odesa region with drones overnight. Regional governor Oleg Kiper confirmed a fire broke out at a fuel facility following the attack, though no casualties were immediately reported.
The surge in attacks coincided with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to Washington, where he and European leaders are expected to press for stronger support in negotiations aimed at ending the war, now in its fourth year.
Ahead of Zelensky’s arrival, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his view that Kyiv would need to make significant concessions for peace. He stated Ukraine would be unable to retake Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, and would not be admitted into NATO under a potential settlement.
Zelensky has consistently rejected proposals to cede Crimea, insisting that Ukraine’s territorial integrity is non-negotiable. “Crimea is Ukraine,” he has said repeatedly in international forums.
On the battlefield, Russia continues to press its advantage after months of steady advances. Moscow has proposed that Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas region as part of a broader arrangement to freeze the conflict along current lines in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, where major cities remain under Kyiv’s control.
The latest wave of attacks underscores the high civilian toll of Russia’s campaign, with Kharkiv once again at the center of devastation. The city, just 30 miles from the border, has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Emergency services said search and rescue operations in Kharkiv would continue through Monday, with officials warning that more victims may still be trapped beneath the rubble.
