An estimated 50 people were hurt, including an 11-year-old child, when Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv with drones late Friday, officials said.
Calling it a “massive attack,” Kharkiv governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram that the drones hit four parts of the city while causing fires and damaging homes, buildings and cars.
The Kharkiv mayor said 12 different locations in those four districts were hit and that eight people are still in the hospital in moderate condition.
Even though there could be more attacks, emergency workers are on the ground putting out fires and cleaning up damage as medical staff worked hard to help the injured.
Only hours early, Russia had launched another attack, this time on Zaporizhzhia, hurting 29 people.
These attacks happened just before Russia’s planned three-day ceasefire for its World War II holiday as Ukraine says this “ceasefire” is just for show and not real, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the drones hit homes, not military places.
“Russia attacks when people are in their homes, putting their children to bed,” he said.
Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned on Wednesday that “a whole series of nuances” needs to be addressed before Russia will agree to any U.S.-brokered peace deal to end Moscow’s 3-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said, “said that he supports this initiative — the establishment of a ceasefire, he supports it, but before going for it, a whole series of questions need to be answered and a whole series of nuances need to be resolved,” as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency.
Zelenskyy again urged greater international pressure on the Kremlin this week, citing the latest round of drone strikes a few days ago in which 45 people were injured in Kharkiv — including two children — and one person was killed in Dnipro.
“Russian drones continue flying over Ukrainian skies all morning,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “And this happens every single day. That’s why pressure on Russia is needed — strong, additional sanctions that actually work. Not just words or attempts at persuasion — only pressure can force Russia to agree to a ceasefire and end the war.”
ABC News’ David Brennan contributed to this report.
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