Today’s strike follows a series of overnight attacks in Kharkiv
Kharkov, Ukraine:
A Russian drone struck a gas station in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, on Saturday, killing seven people, including three children, and destroying nearly half a street, local authorities said.
Kharkiv Region Governor Oleg said: “Five members of a family died in a fire in a private house: a couple and their three children (boys aged seven, four and seven months)” Senegubov said on the Telegram social network.
He said the woman and boy sought shelter in the bathroom and the man’s body was found in a passageway of the house. He said a child was missing.
“In another house, a 66-year-old man and his 65-year-old wife were killed,” he added.
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said earlier that the attack by the Iranian-made Shahed drone sprayed burning fuel on nearby homes, forcing at least 50 people to evacuate.
“The enemy Shahid attacked a gas station, causing burning fuel to spill and burn down 15 houses and even half a street,” he said.
Kharkiv district prosecutor Oleksandr Filachkov said three drones struck the Nemeshlyansky district of Kharkiv.
“As a result, critical infrastructure was destroyed. There was a lot of fuel, which is why the consequences of the fire were so dire,” he said, referring to gas stations.
Saturday’s strikes followed a series of overnight attacks in Kharkiv and a village east of the regional capital.
Ukrainian authorities said that Russia launched 31 attack drones overnight in eastern Kharkiv and southern Odessa, of which 23 were shot down.
Meanwhile, ahead of a key defense ministers meeting in Brussels and the second anniversary of the war, Nato called on Europe to increase weapons production to support Ukraine and prevent a “confrontation that could last for decades” with Moscow.
“We need to rebuild and expand our industrial base faster, increase deliveries to Ukraine and replenish our own stocks,” Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary-general, insisted.
Call for more aid
“This means moving from slow peacetime production to fast-paced conflict production,” he told German Sunday daily Welt am Sonntag.
Western leaders have also called for more aid. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Joe Biden on Friday urged U.S. lawmakers to approve a long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine, warning that without it Kiev would be unable to stop a Russian invasion.
“The failure of the United States Congress to not support Ukraine borders on criminal negligence,” Biden said Friday when he hosted Scholtz in the Oval Office.
“There is no imminent military threat against any ally. At the same time, we often hear threats from the Kremlin against NATO countries,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday, a week before the second anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The Ukrainian Defense Contact Group meeting will be an important part of the talks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
