Several wounded in Russian strikes on Ukraine's Kharkiv: Kiev

Russia has launched new strikes in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that hit high-rise apartment buildings, leaving at least 21 wounded in a second consecutive nighttime attack, authorities said.

The bombs fell on Saturday night on the district of Shevchenkivsky, north of the centre of Kharkiv, which is the second-largest Ukrainian city, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

Residential buildings sustained varying degrees of damage, including 16- and nine-storey buildings, he added.

Kharkiv's city council said that 18 buildings were damaged.

The wounded included an 8-year-old child, according to Syniehubov and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Terekhov said that 60 residents were evacuated from one of the buildings, a high-rise that was hit directly.

Kharkiv has been a frequent target of Russian attacks since Moscow launched attacks on neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Zelenskyy calls for more weapons

The attack came after another late Friday that wounded 15 people, including children ages 10 and 12 when Russian airstrikes hit three Kharkiv neighbourhoods, Terekhov said.

Ukrainian officials said that KAB-type aerial glide bombs — a retrofitted Soviet weapon that has for months laid waste to eastern Ukraine — were used in both attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike and urged Kiev’s Western allies to send more weapons to help it “protect lives and ensure safety.”

“Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities, and we are working to convince our partners of this,” Zelenskyy said on X, as he prepared to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Kiev in the war.

And Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said Sunday that Kiev was in talks with partners in Europe to secure Swedish-made Gripen and European Eurofighter Typhoon jets.

Umerov said that commitments were already in place for deliveries of US-made F-16s and French Mirages.

Overnight drone, missile attack

Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Ukrainian air defence shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location because of electronic warfare countermeasures, the statement said.

Farther south, a 12-year-old girl and a woman died after a Russian drone struck a passenger car in the city of Nikopol, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported.

Two others, including a 4-year-old child, suffered wounds.