Kiev calls for fighter jets

First aerial bombardment of Kharkiv since 2022

Ukrainian police personnel investigate an impact crater.(Bild: AP)

Russia has once again carried out airstrikes in the south and east of Ukraine. At least three people were killed and around 30 others injured. The attack on the second-largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was the first since 2022 in which aerial bombs were used, according to the local police.

At least one person died and 18 others were injured when a guided missile hit several residential buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. According to regional governor Oleg Sinegubov, four children were among the injured, the smallest of whom was only three months old. The number of victims could still rise.

Bomb hits school
For the first time in two years, the Russian attackers had again dropped aerial bombs on residential areas, explained Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigation department of the National Police in the Kharkiv region. One bomb had hit a school, the other several residential buildings.

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There were also attacks in the south: In the Kherson region, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin, a 61-year-old woman died in a drone attack on the village of Mykhailivka. In Nikopol in the south-eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, a 55-year-old man was killed by artillery fire, according to the authorities. According to the local governor, eight people were injured in an attack by a ballistic missile in the neighboring region of Mykolaiv.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia had directed 13 Iranian-made combat drones at targets in Ukraine on Wednesday night. Ten of them were intercepted over the Kharkiv and Sumy regions and near the capital Kiev.

Delivery of fighter jets "vital"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has called for the delivery of further air defense missiles and fighter jets in view of the Russian wave of attacks. Strengthening Ukraine's air defense and accelerating the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine are "vital tasks", wrote Zelenskyi, adding: "There are no rational explanations as to why the Patriot air defense systems, which are available in abundance all over the world, still do not cover the skies over Kharkiv and other cities."

Selenskyj during the inspection in the Sumy region(Bild: APA/AFP/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/Handout)

New lines of defense inspected
Zelensky also visited the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, which borders Russia. Among other things, he met wounded soldiers there and inspected newly constructed defense lines. "We are strengthening our defenses," Selensky explained. Due to a lack of ammunition, Ukraine has been on the defensive in the Russian war of aggression for several months. Massive military aid from the USA has been blocked due to a dispute between Republicans and Democrats in Congress in Washington.