The flames night over Ukraine as Russia’s vengeance started after the Ukrainian “Spider’s Web attacks” inside Russian territories
At least five people were killed in Russian missile and drone attacks early Saturday on the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Kharkov, local authorities said.
Three people were killed when Russia launched a pre-dawn bombing campaign on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkov, on Saturday.
The mayor of Kharkov described it as the most violent on the city since the war began more than three years ago.
Mayor Igor Terekhov said the shelling killed three people and injured at least 17.
“Kharkov is currently experiencing the most intense attack since the beginning of the full-scale war,” he wrote on Telegram, describing Russia’s launching of a barrage of missiles, drones, and guided bombs simultaneously to bombard the city.
He added that “drones are still flying in the sky,” warning that “the threat remains”.
In the southern city of Kherson, two people were killed in an airstrike on a building, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
At least 18 people, including four children, were injured in strikes on Kharkov, northeastern Ukraine, which set a residential building on fire.
In Lutsk, in the west, near the border with Poland, rescue workers found the body of a second victim on Saturday who died in the shelling that hit the city on Friday.
Authorities indicated that the victim was a woman in her twenties.
This brings the death toll from Russian strikes on several Ukrainian regions overnight Thursday to Friday to five.
Saturday night also saw missile attacks and a massive Russian drone attack on the capital, Kyiv.
Moscow asserted on Friday that the conflict was an existential issue for it, after launching a massive offensive overnight, which it described as a response to recent attacks by Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to respond to a Ukrainian drone attack that destroyed nuclear-capable bombers in an attack on air bases hundreds of kilometers from the border.
