Russia rained down massive strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city overnight into Saturday, killing at least four people, as both sides accused each other of thwarting the largest planned prisoner swap of the war.
At least 40 people were injured in Kharkiv, including a newborn baby and a 14-year-old girl, officials said, while Russia continued its deadly retaliatory strikes on Ukraine this week.
“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” the city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram late Friday. “This is outright terror against peaceful Kharkiv.”
Russia rained down massive strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city overnight into Saturday, killing at least four people, according to reports. REUTERS
Map of Kharkiv with the locations of Russian airstrikes. Jared Larson / NY Post DesignAn onslaught of drones and missiles damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 homes, he added.
The barrage — the latest in near daily wide-scale attacks — included 48 Iran-made Shahed attack drones, Terekhov said.
Russian strikes also hit the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil, and Odesa regions overnight, Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, posted on X.
“Russia continues its terror against civilians,” he charged.
At least 40 people were injured in Kharkiv, including a newborn baby and a 14-year-old girl, officials said. REUTERS“To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” Sybiha added.
In total, Russia launched more than 200 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles, according to Ukraine’s military.
The Air Force said it shot down seven Russian cruise missiles and 87 combat drones, and also downed a Russian Su-35 fighter jet in Kursk, bringing the total number of Russian aircraft destroyed since the start of the three-year war to 414.
A large Russian drone-and-missile attack targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. AFP via Getty ImagesThe attack on Kharkiv came one day after Russia launched one of its fiercest barrages on Ukraine, striking at least six Ukrainian territories and killing at least six people, while injuring about 80.
The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon — especially after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia last Sunday.
President Trump said this week that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, vowed Moscow would respond to the attack.
Smoke billows from a fire-damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” the city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram late Friday. “This is outright terror against peaceful Kharkiv.” AFP via Getty ImagesTrump also said that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace.
Meanwhile, a prisoner swap expected to take place between the warring countries this weekend fell apart Saturday as each side blamed the other for the delay.
The exchange was supposed to be the largest of the war, topping last month’s 1,000-for-1,000 swap that was agreed at a first round of talks in Istanbul in mid-May.
A man stands amid rubble in a destroyed house in a residential district after Russian shelling on June 7, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Over a dozen private homes were damaged in the attack, Terekhov added. AFP via Getty ImagesAfter a second round of talks on Monday, the two sides agreed to exchange the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers as well as an unspecified number of the youngest and most critically injured prisoners of war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said it would happen Saturday and Sunday, the Kyiv Independent reported.
On Saturday, Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said 640 Ukrainian prisoners of war and more than 1,200 frozen bodies of soldiers had arrived at the exchange site, with the rest en route – but charged that Ukrainian negotiators did not show up.
In total, Russia launched more than 200 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles, according to Ukraine’s military. SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The attack on Kharkiv came one day after Russia targeted six Ukrainian territories. AFP via Getty Images“The Ukrainian side unexpectedly postponed for an indefinite period both the acceptance of bodies and the exchange of prisoners of war,” Medinsky posted on Telegram.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War accused Moscow of “dirty games” and “manipulations,” according to reports.
It said on social media that both sides had been working on the exchange this past week and alleged that Russia was not sticking to the parameters of the swap.
A firefighter extinguishes a fire at a damaged residential building after Russian shelling on June 7, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Smoke billows after drone strikes in Kharkiv, on June 7, amid the Russian invasion. SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockUkraine submitted lists of POWs “formed according to clearly defined categories agreed upon during the negotiations,” while the Russian side “provided different lists that do not correspond to the agreed approach,” the headquarters said in a statement.
“We call on the Russian side to stop playing dirty games and return to constructive work to bring people back to both sides and to clearly implement the agreement in the coming days,” it added.
With Post wires
