In a sweeping assault early Saturday, Russia launched an intense wave of missiles, bombs, and Iranian-made drones across Ukraine.
These attacks killed at least five people in what Kharkiv’s mayor called the most severe attack since the full-scale war began.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near the Russian border, reported that nearly 50 drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, targeted the city of 1.4 million before sunrise.
Writing on Telegram around 4:40 a.m., he described the barrage as unprecedented, noting that drones continued to hover in the skies.
Residential areas bore the brunt of the assault, with three residents killed and 17 injured, including two children, according to local officials.
Emergency teams managed to rescue a woman trapped under the debris of a collapsed high-rise building.
Elsewhere in the country, the southern city of Kherson was also hit, where shelling claimed the lives of a couple and caused damage to apartment buildings. In Dnipro, two women aged 45 and 88 were wounded.
Meanwhile, in the western city of Lutsk near the Polish border, rescuers discovered a second body from Friday’s strikes, a woman in her 20s.
The increase in Russian offensives follows Ukraine’s daring airstrike on Russian military airfields last weekend.
That operation, reportedly 18 months in the making, involved more than 100 small drones targeting nuclear-capable aircraft deep within Russia, prompting a vow of retaliation from President Vladimir Putin.
While Kyiv has proposed a 30-day ceasefire during ongoing peace negotiations in Istanbul, Moscow continues to reject any immediate truce.
The Kremlin insists its invasion is vital to Russia’s national security and future.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the conflict poses a fundamental threat to Russia, dismissing recent remarks by former U.S.
President Donald Trump that likened the conflict to a childlike quarrel between the two nations.
Despite calls for dialogue, Russia has stood firm on its demands, including Ukrainian withdrawal from four contested regions and a halt to Western military aid.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed these conditions as outdated and has called for a new summit involving himself, Putin, and Trump.