KHARKIV: Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others, including children, on Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire. Ukraine said it had received the bodies of more than 1,200 soldiers, handed over by Moscow, part of a repatriation deal the two sides agreed at talks last week. Russia has fired record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine over recent weeks, escalating three years of daily bombardments as it outlines hardline demands — rejected by Kyiv as "ultimatums" — to halt its three-year attack.
The northeastern city of Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, again bore the brunt of the attack. "Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight," Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram. Kharkiv regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said three people had been killed.
"Every new day now brings new cowardly strikes from Russia, and almost every strike is demonstrative. Russia deserves increased pressure," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media after the shelling of Kharkiv. Journalists in the city saw damaged apartment blocks, burnt out cars and streets strewn with debris after the attacks.
Ukraine's air force said that Russia had fired 85 drones overnight — fewer than in recent days. On the front line, Moscow's troops have been advancing steadily. The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that more units had crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region.
US President Donald Trump has been urging the two sides to strike a peace deal, but has seen little progress. Zelensky has in turn called on the West to increase the pressure on Russia with hard-hitting economic sanctions that he says would limit its capacity to wage war. He is expected to press that message with Trump and European leaders at a G7 summit in Canada, which kicks off on Sunday.
Leaders from several countries across southeastern Europe were expected in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, hours after it was targeted by Russian strikes. Two rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in ending the war.
Russia has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanded that Ukraine give up large swathes of territory and its bid to join Nato. But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers. Ukraine said on Wednesday that Russia had handed over the corpses of 1,212 killed soldiers and was working to identify them.
Russia's top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed the handover and said Russia had received "the remains of 27 Russian soldiers." Ukraine did not say how many bodies it returned to Russia, which says Western estimates of the number of its deaths are untrue.
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